Discuss Business

When checking figures, it is very easy to assume that everything is correct, once the figures balance. But sometimes this assumption can lead to serious errors. If something is left out of both sides of your figures, they may still balance, even though they are wrong.

I recently checked payments we received from a large client. In one column I wrote down everything we were owed, and in the second column I listed all the payments we had received, from the client. The figures balanced and I closed the file content that all was in order.

A little later, one of my colleagues mentioned a payment we were owed from the client. I went back to check my figures and realized the client hadn’t paid for this. But my figures balanced because I hadn’t included it in the column of what was owed. The figures balanced, but a helpful observation from my colleague, avoided a mistake that would have cost the company a lot of money.

Insurance is a vitally important issue for every business, yet its importance is sometimes overlooked with dire consequences.  Get in the habit of regularly asking yourself “Is it insured?” 

Insurance is not just for things you own, but also for things you do.  When completing many business functions you should consider the action and ask yourself “is it insured?”  Business actions or event involved could include the following; buying, selling, hiring, firing, disciplining, leasing, distributing, producing, giving professional advice, publishing information, writing reports, accidents, fire, theft, etc. etc. 

It is very easy to do something that can result in an aspect of your business not being insured.  So, get in the habit of regularly asking yourself “Is it insured?”

You might think that your customers or even your boss are telling you what they think of your product or service.  But very often they are not, you need to ask. 

I remember the first time I did a ring round of our top five clients and ran through a quick survey of four questions to get their feedback on our service.  To my surprise some of these clients had issues with our service that they never mentioned to me before, even though I dealt with them on a regular basis. 

By asking for their feedback I got an honest review and the opportunity to improve service delivery and iron out minor issues before they became major problems that could result in a lost client. 

So ask for feedback.  You might not always like what you hear, but it is much better to know than not know.  If you don’t know about a client’s issues, you won’t have the opportunity to do something about them.