Running a business with unpaid invoices will destroy you.
Learn how to manage payment of invoices through effective marketing and overcome the frustration of cash flow problems.
It's no secret that many local authorities are in a mess. If the government is involved you know they will find a way to make any task a difficult one. When working as a private company alongside a government led organisation it can be frustrating to say the least. The private company wants to make money and the government wants to waste/spend money on anything it sees fit.
Unfortunately for the home care owner, spending money with you is not on the agenda. Far better to waste money on schemes and legislation that mean nothing and cause headaches. I remember visiting one local authority who owed me circa 100K, I went there to see why my invoices were not being paid. Whilst being shown around I was shocked to learn how excited the staff were that they had shiny new ‘Heated’ toilet seats installed.
Great I thought, you can't pay me but at least your arses are warm when you are skiving off work and hiding in the toilets. Unfortunately this is not an isolated case, the government will waste millions every year and complain they don't have the budget to spend on ‘Elderly care’.
Your invoices will go unpaid and be constantly late because they don't have the money!
So how do you compensate for this? In the past, I have complained to MP's, hand delivered invoices, printed invoices on coloured paper to stand out, tried to build good relationships and even offered to send staff to help.
The MP's wrote a letter which prompted a reply but no change.
Hand delivered invoices still were ‘Not received’ and had to be sent again
Coloured paper was not acceptable and invoices had to be sent again
People who were helpful and wanted good relationships were moved departments and replaced with trained monkeys (not literally but you get the gist)
In the 15 years I had my business there were way more bad times than good. Occasionally invoices would be up-to-date. Usually around the end of the financial year. If the government hadn't wasted enough money they would make some large payments to me.
Funny how they always found the money when it was time for them to submit figures for the coming years budget.
But generally speaking they were a nightmare to deal with. I'm out of home care as a provider now but helping other home care companies win Private work, I get to hear the same story over and over. - ‘The Local authority are killing my business and I have had enough'!
So how do you combat this scenario if all your work is with the local authority?
With the local authority my advice is, start shouting. I always found he who shouts the loudest wins. I would be a constant pain in their little ‘Warm’ arses,. I raised safeguardings, made complaints and threatened to hand work back. In truth the local authority started to hate me and I hated them. I provided an exceptional service and was sick of the way they treated me. I'd worked years trying to build good relationships, seeing all the good contacts leave made me stop up trying to work with them and go on the attack instead.
To be fair I was pretty good, I had a great finance manager and together we would constantly go to work forcing our payments through. The trouble with this is it's not a great way to run a business, who wants to be fighting everyday? We go into care to care, make a difference and have an enjoyable business. So if you don't want to fight for your money, do this instead:
Learn To Market Your Home Care Business!
Marketing nowadays is easier than anything. Not only is it easy it's now affordable as well. For as little as £49.99 a month every home care company can market like a pro. AI is changing how Home Care providers run their business and the changes are fabulous. The ‘Scale & Grow Pro’ AI marketing suite for care providers makes marketing easy.
With a click of a button you can get 1000's of ideas for content. You take an idea and use the AI to create a photo to use (no copyright issues or licenses to buy) Then you can either write the content or have AI write it for you.
And this isn't all. The scale & Grow Pro marketing suite will also create scroll stopping videos for you, websites, funnels, and much more. I'm so confident that you will enjoy using the suite I'm also happy to hold regular Q&A sessions to help you get the most of the suite.
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I can programme everything for you. You buy the suite and I do the work for you. Whatever option you choose, you will be able to take on more private work than ever before. Your invoices will be paid on time and your cash flow worries will go away.
Getting you away or at least less reliant on the local authority is my goal. I don't want any of my clients suffering as I did. I'm here to help you change your Care agency for the better and I will give you every tool you need to do so.
To find out more visit www.scaleandgrowpro.com here you can but the software and book a call with me to discuss how I can transform your business to a much healthier happier care company.