Sky News Business "Playing The Game Of False Politeness’"

Cashflow is the main topic of our Sky News feature this week;

"Having survived half term it's back to normal this week at Tomorrow Never Knows. But with the end of the month fast approaching, it's been a period of chasing finance departments to cough up and pay our invoices - the side of the business we don't enjoy.

When you work for a client, you have a basic agreement. You work hard for them and deliver to the best of your ability, results that compliment the overall campaign to the agreed time frame. It's a shame this doesn't work in the world of the finance departments.

The work is done, everyone is happy and the invoice is in - but now you've got to do the hardest job of all - getting paid. I'm sure the following will sound familiar too all small business people reading this: "It hasn't been signed off yet", "the cheque is waiting to be signed", "its on next week's cheque run", "we haven't received your invoice, when did you send it?", or worse still - silence, as no one gets back to you.

The dilemma for the small business person is what to do about it. By losing your temper, you may harm the relationship you have with the client, and make them think about looking elsewhere. It's a strange game of false politeness: You know they aren't telling the truth, and they probably know you know - but you play along to keep the peace. Fortunately most of our clients pay on time, but having worked on the other side of the business and alongside finance departments we understand why some do what they do, as well as the excuses they come up with, which does make it harder to take now we are on the receiving end."

Read the full feature here on the Sky News Business Pages