19 January

19 January 1946 saw the birth of Dolly Parton, the American singer / songwriter and actor, perhaps most well-known for her contribution to country and western music.

When you’re working nine to five to get in the Johnny Cash the last thing you need is some Rhinestone cowboy giving you the run around. But having to pick up the phone and give them some straight talk can be difficult. If you know it needs doing but you can’t face it then you can be left feeling like the coward of the county.

We wouldn’t think that because we know having those conversations isn’t for everybody and getting the balance right is tricky – you’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em.

That’s where our outsourced credit control and debt chasing services can come in handy: we have those hard conversations so you can play the good cop in the rest of your relationship with your customers, while we can play the bad cop. We can even take things all the way up to the high court if there’s a need to bring in the sheriffs.

Our Parton shot today then is that we’re confident we can improve your cashflow. And if you want to use your money to buy the best little whorehouse in Texas that’s none of our business.

#cashflow #debtrecovery #creditcontrol #dollywood

18 January

On 18 January 1981 Phil Smith and Phil Mayfield parachuted off a Houston skyscraper, becoming the first two people to BASE jump in all four categories (Buildings, Antennae, Spans (bridges) and Earth (cliffs)).

In the main, we’d all like our finances to be heading upwards, rather than being static or in freefall. With the pandemic though, you’ve probably seen your reserves being depleted.

Chasing the invoices is one of the ways to exit this predicament but we know that some people get themselves in twists and take flight from doing it. However if you count to three (thousand) and hook up with our outsourced credit control service we can help take away the hard financial landings.

We do as much or as little as your ledger requires and you can control where we put the effort. So we can leave the sensitive ones (until you get to trust us) and concentrate on those causing the most difficulty.

If you’re interested in our services, give us a shout: we’d love to work in tandem with you.

#creditcontrol #debtrecovery #cashflow #actionstations

Police National Computer data breach

t would appear that those running the Police National Computer will have some explaining to do following news that c150k records have been accidentally deleted. This seems to be a clear breach of the GDPR 'integrity and confidentiality' principle.

Most people will know that their organisation has a duty to keep data secure but how many know that this responsibility extends to being able to restore data if it's accidentally been deleted (as in this case)?

To find out more about your organisation's responsibilities on the integrity and confidentiality principle, have a look at Security | ICO

15 January

15 January is National Hat Day.

As small business owners, we spend a lot of time wearing different hats. Some hats sit well on our heads, some make us feel uncomfortable.

Putting on a debt chasing hat is often one that people dislike and avoid as much as possible. It can make them mad as a hatter that people talk through their hat or give them the same old hat about paying their bills.

However, getting annoyed can see you lose business at the drop of a hat. Alternatively, being apologetic and going cap in hand asking for money can make the debtor feel in control, which isn’t a good position to be in.

Outsourcing your credit control, handing that hat to an expert, means you’re one step removed from the situation, which maintains your relationship with the customer and frees you up to do the bit of your business that you actually enjoy.

Why not try it for a month or two, on a no obligation trial basis. We bet you’ll wish you’d done it years ago. And if you don’t, we’ll eat our hats.

#creditcontrol #debtrecovery #cashflow #airborne

14 January

On this day in 1977, David Bowie’s album, Low, was released.

Running your own business can be the best decision ever made but it doesn’t take many late payments to make you feel Under Pressure and in the middle of a Labyrinth of debt.

It’s no Laughing Gnome matter when your dreams of wealth and success are crumbling Ashes to Ashes in front of you - Strung Out on Heaven’s High, Hitting an All Time Low.

Absolute Beginners in business can make the easy mistake of trusting everyone to do the right thing when payment is due but As the World Falls Down around your ears, you might be wishing for those Golden Years of a nice safe salary to return.

Don’t despair. The solution is neither rocket science nor a Space Oddity. Neither do you need a magician or a Jean Genie to put things right. Just some simple, regular, consistent, effective and, importantly, cost effective credit control which will soon have you Dancing in the Street.
All you have to do is make the decision to try a different way of doing things. Our team can be your Heroes, sprinkle some Ziggy Stardust, get your payments up to date and bring you some well deserved Peace on Earth.

We’re here for you when you’re ready to make some ch ch changes.

#creditcontrol #debtrecovery #cashflow #genehunt

13 January

On 13 January 1926 the author Michael Bond was born. He created the children’s favourite Paddington Bear.

Much like marmalade, things can get sticky when the cash isn’t flowing through your business and the cupboard's bear. It’s grizzly and, if left unchecked, it could end up with your business being in the pooh.

The best way of getting money in is not to wait too long but, after staring hard at the things in your to-do list, you might find that you’ve made a boo-boo (or a bungle) and haven’t been proactive enough.

Not to worry, we can help with our outsourced credit control service. It’s proactive and because we start chasing before invoices are fully due, you’ll quickly be able to spot if a customer is going to create a hulla-baloo. This provides certainty and means that you can plan further into the future.

So if you’ve peru-sed this post and think ‘this is something for me’ or at least something to panda, give us a shout. By giving you cashflow clarity, we’ll stop the numbers in your accounts being fozzie.

#creditcontrol #debtrecovery #cashflow #danibehr

12 January

On 12 January 1974 The Steve Miller Band were at Number 1 in the US singles chart with the first of their three Number 1s, The Joker.

A lot of our clients don’t like having to chase their unpaid invoices. Conversations can sometimes be difficult and it takes time away from money-earning activity.

If you’re like them and your heart’s not in making these calls, why not club together with us and let our credit controllers do the spade-work for you? They’re ace, genuine diamonds, but as you decide how much work our outsourced credit control service does for you each month you hold the trump cards.

So if you feel that credit control is robin you of a fuller bank account, give us a shout and riddle us this: Why don’t polar bears eat penguins?

#creditcontrol #debtrecovery #cashflow #holybadpayers

11 January

On 11 January 1962 Cliff Richard was at Number 1 in the UK singles chart with ‘The Young Ones’. The BBC broadcast 12 episodes of a TV series of the same name in the 1980s, the titles of which are (somewhere) in the text below.

Cash oils the wheels of your business and it’s boring having to chase the invoices but late payers can do a demolition job on your bank account.

If you’re sick of taking time out from doing what you enjoy then our outsourced credit control service might go down a bomb with you. We do as much or as little as your ledger requires, leaving you free to do the more interesting stuff. You’ll also be saving yourself nasty financial surprises and hopefully have enough money in the bank to pay for a summer holiday in a hotel in the sun, with superb ambiance and a fantastic pool. After last year you’ll deserve it.

SLCM Business Support: helping to stop your business’s finances going off a Cliff. In a bus.

#creditcontrol #debtrecovery #cashflow #orangepeal

8 January

8 January is National Bubble Bath Day.

A week into the New Year and already any residual calm from the Christmas break will be fading away with each phone call or email that appears. Because of a Christmas overspend and the prospect of a looooong dark soggy January ahead, your shoulders might be feeling as tight as your money.

What’s more, it’s a headache taking time out of your day for chasing some matey for unpaid invoices (when you should be doing work that generates more of them) and it can lead to sleepless nights.

Passing your credit control to us could be the equivalent of giving your business a bubble bath. It’ll make you feel warm, safe and relaxed, it’ll de-stress you so that you can just float away and plan how to spend your new-found wealth. We won’t make any waves, you’ll just hear the gentle popping of bubbles of money dropping into your account.

Oh, and we smell nice too.

#creditcontrol #debtrecovery #cashflow #alifeontheoceanwave

ESSENTIAL GDPR TRAINING PACKAGE FOR FRONT-LINE STAFF

Crimson Crab Limited and SLCM Business Support Limited are pleased to announce the release of their Data Protection / GDPR e-learning package, which gives employees working within businesses the essential knowledge they need to keep their employer on the right side of the law.

The course aims to reduce the risk to businesses of one of their employees causing a breach or other personal data incident which might lead to reputational damage. It’s written in plain English, uses easy to understand terms and requires no prior or deep legal or technical understanding. It will help businesses demonstrate that they are complying with the ‘integrity and confidentiality’ principle[1] of the GDPR,

The package provides for an understanding of

1. Some basic definitions used in privacy law

2. The Data Protection principles

3. The rights of people whose information is being 'processed'

4. The practical things that employees can do day to day to keep data safe.

Successful completion of the course, which takes around 30 minutes, requires that a short, multiple-choice test is passed.

Based on best practice, all the information contained within the training course has been taken from the information provided by either the Information Commissioner's Office (the ICO) or the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

For more information about this service please email enquiries@crimsoncrab.net .

[1] Article 6(1)(f) of the General Data Protection Regulation requires that personal data shall be

‘processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data, including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organisational measures (‘integrity and confidentiality’).’

7 January

On 7 January 1981 The Police played the first night of a North American tour at the University of Montreal during their Zenyatta Mondatta world tour.

Everything you want to De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da with your business depends on having the money to do it with.

Policing payments when you’re a small business can be tricky as you may feel that you Can’t Stand Losing customers by asking them for money.

Maybe you worry about your cashflow with Every Breath You Take. Possibly, you think you’ve got nowhere to turn for help and feel So Lonely. Perhaps you’re as lost as an Englishman in New York when it comes to chasing people for payment.

While pinning people down to a payment date can be as difficult as Walking on the Moon, we can and do effectively collect money for people every day with our outsourced credit control service.

Whether it’s picking up the phone, sending a letter or even a Message in a Bottle, we keep going until we’ve got the client Wrapped Around our Finger and ready to pay.

Not quite Every Little Thing we Do Is Magic but you can’t always tell the difference.

#creditcontrol #debtrecovery #cashflow #nicholasangel

6 January

Each year on 6 January National Cuddle Up Day encourages everyone to snuggle up with someone for the health benefits. This year there might be more people doing it than usual.

As we begin Lockdown 3.0, rather than us giving you some pithy observations, we’d just like to let you know (as you probably already did) that the biggest thing about credit control is building and maintaining positive relationships with your customers.

All the things shown in today’s graphic, our Credit Pyramid, are merely blocks to put in place so that if a relationship with one of your customers breaks down and the courts become involved, you’ll have right on your side.

Hopefully though, if you’ve got strong, honest and (perhaps most importantly) personal relationships in place you won’t need to be wielding the stick.

So, stay safe, and with luck you’ll be able to exercise National Cuddle Up Day with your customers when it’s safe to do so again.

#creditcontrol #debtrecovery #cashflow #ihatethatduck

5 January

The building of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco Bay began on 5 January 1933. The same date in 1975 coincidentally saw the Tasman Bridge in Australia being struck by the ship ‘Lake Illawarra’.

When you’ve done the work, you’ll be Itchin to get the money in but sometimes clients can be a little slow in paying. When this happens there’s often the conundrum of being Humber-le or, at the other extreme, telling them to Go Forth. It can take a toll.

The truth is, there’s no one single way for encouraging your clients to pay, but with our outsourced credit control service we can make sure that we know just which tool to use in any circumstance – whether it’s suspending their access to further services or Iron-ing out any complaints they might have. We can spend as much or as little as your ledger requires and you’re in charge of where we put the effort.

So don’t put it off to Tamar-ow, drop us a line today. Bad payers don’t need to be your Waterloo.

#cashflow#creditcontrol#debtrecovery#jeffandbeau

4 January

Felice Anno Nuovo!

4 January is National Spaghetti Day.

Like pasta, debt chasing is fasta with us.

Do you come close to losing your Ragu when payments are late? Perhaps you blow a Fusilliin panic every time you think about chasing for money.

Do you think people’s excuses for not paying up area load of Bolognese? Instead of Ciabatta-ing your head against the wall, why not Parmesan the responsibility on to us?

With our outsourced credit control and debt recovery services we can Gnocchi on their door for you, we can Penne emails and letters, we can get them jumping through Spaghetti hoops in no time and Fettucini the money in for you.

You could think of us as the lasagne of the debt chasing world: layers of comforting service, all topped off like these posts – with a nice dollop of cheese.

#creditcontrol #debtrecovery #cashflow #ladyandthetramp

24 December

An SLCM Ode to Christmas.

T’was the night before Christmas, when all through the house,

Not a debtor was paying, not even a mouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In the vain hope that cash would be there.

The client was lying awake in his bed,

Bemoaning the account so long in the red.

What should he do? Go beg with his cap?

Sleep isn’t coming, he’s all in a flap.

In the back of his mind, a barely held memory

Wasn’t there a company, firm but quite friendly?

Perhaps, says he, they’ll know what to do,

They’ll make some calls - get me out of the poo.

With queries of old, and invoices a-scatter,

We sprang to the phone to see what the matter.

Through the whole list we flew like a flash,

Tore up the overdraft and deposited cash.

He checked his account and gave a loud whistle,

Away flew his problems, like the down of a thistle.

And we heard him exclaim, his future now bright,

"Happy Christmas to all, thank you and good-night!"

#creditcontrol #debtrecovery #cashflow #loosemoose

23 December

23 December each year sees the Night of the Radishes, a competitive event held in Oaxaca, Mexico, that’s dedicated to the carving of oversized radishes.

Lettuce begin this post by saying that there’s no point in dressing things up – it’s difficult to be as cool as a cucumber if you’ve got a difficult customer who’s reluctant to pay up and it’s a distraction when you’re trying to keep the wheels of your business oiled.

It’s a wise person who knows when to caesar-n opportunity to separate out the tasks. With our credit control service you can do exactly that – we’ll root out the reason for non-payment and then toss together our solution. It might be stick or it might be carrot but whichever, your time is freed up to do what you do (and most probably enjoy) the best.

If you’d like to take advantage of this little gem of an offer, then drop us a line. As you’re doing it outsourced, it’ll save your payroll another celery.

#creditcontrol #debtrecovery #cashflow #waldorf

22 December

On 22 December 1949 the singer / songwriters Maurice and Robin Gibb were born. Together, they formed two thirds of the Bee Gees.

Hopefully your business will have gone from barely stayin’ alive through to you being able to enjoy nights on Broadway. But it can happen at any time: tragedy. When you should be dancing, you’re having to deal with jive talkin’ customers who won’t pay for the work that you’ve done for them.

Don’t let give your bedtime be sleepless, with our outsourced credit control service we can do the chasing for you, without jeopardising the ongoing relationship with your client, getting rid of that night fever. We do as much or little as your ledger needs, starting from just an hour per month.

Because you’ll then be free to work on what you do best, with our arrangement you win again.

#creditcontrol #debtrecovery #cashflow #kennyeverett

21 December

21 December 1937 saw the premiere of the world's first full-length animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

If you’re a little grumpy that your customers aren’t paying on time and they’re leaving you a bit short, it’s easy to get on your heigh ho-rse. But, be honest, is this down to them being dopey or you being sleepy about chasing for the money?

If you’re bashful about asking for the cash or you’ve got an allergic reaction to it that makes you sneezy, get the doc to prescribe our outsourced credit control service. We do as much or as little as your ledger requires and we think this arrangement is the fairest of them all.

We don’t do mirror-cles but hopefully you’ll soon be happy.

#creditcontrol #debtrecovery #cashflow #notdwarves?

18 December

To mark the birth on 18 December 1961 of Leila Steinberg – American singer, producer, author, and poet – here’s a little something what we have wrote.

The tree is decked with baubles
The Christmas lights are twinkling
The reason for the unpaid bill
You haven’t got an inkling

The cheque is in the post they say
They blame the snow or ice
They really can’t be fibbing
That wouldn’t be very nice

Perhaps your client’s story
Has a sprouty sort of smell
You’re as likely to get your payment
As hear a real sleigh bell

So don’t get stuffed like turkey
And don’t get pricked by holly
With us to chase up your debt
Your Christmas will be jolly

#creditcontrol #debtrecovery #cashflow #littleern

17 December

On 17 December 1778 the chemist and physicist Humphry Davy was born. The lamp which bears his named revolutionised mine safety.

In an ideal world we wouldn’t have to sink to chasing the money. We’d do the work and the invoice would get paid. Unfortunately there are bores out there who, whilst perhaps not looking to shaft you, might end up leaving you in a bit of a financial hole.

If you can’t face having to do the chasing (and we know it can be fracktious) or would rather be focusing on what your business is there to do (perhaps having hit a rich seam) our outsourced credit control service can help to prop things up.

For a fixed fee each month (and for most it costs much less than a pony), we’ll be at the cashflow coalface for you, going through our tried and tested drills.

So don’t be a nugget and let your income figures drift, get us to carry the lode. We reckon that soon you’ll be in ore.

#creditcontrol #debtrecovery #cashflow #stillinthenavy