In the current economic climate your cash flow should be a priority and you need to protect it for the benefit of you and your business.

Everyone seems to be holding onto their money for as long as possible and for creative SME’s who are often at the bottom of the food chain this can spell disaster especially as clients tend to be much larger businesses.

Here are a few tips for starters:

Prospective clients: Credit check them. Set credit limits and don’t increase them unless they have demonstrated that they are good payers.

Existing clients: If the time taken to pay has increased or if you have any other reasons to doubt their financial health, credit check your clients and act on the information. There are some classic signs of impending doom to look out for that you can monitor discretely.

Don’t be afraid to be as professional with collecting from clients as you are in your other dealings with them.

Understand your clients’ payment procedures and make sure you are in a strong position by having purchase orders, terms and conditions etc.

Sort out those who can’t pay from those who won’t pay and act accordingly – be realistic with the former and tough with the latter. Litigate if necessary – there are some very good debt recovery firms out there.

My view

I’m afraid many architectural practices are so afraid of offending clients that they will end up writing off fees because clients go bust…and then end up going bust themselves.

Are you going to let this happen to your firm?

Engage in the debate with financial management advisor John Toppin MA FCA and strategic advisor and business coach, James Cooke.

John Toppin is a specialist consultant finance director and ned for marketing,creative and professional firms.

You can check my credentials at http://www.linkedin.com/in/johntoppin

You can read my personal blog at http://finance-director.blogspot.com/

 John Toppin at www.nomizon.co.uk 

 James Cooke at www.jamescookecoaching.com 

Milau viaduct, Milau, France

The Palladio exhibition journeyed from London to Barcelona by road. In total it took two very long days, arriving at the venue at 11:30pm. Although the journey was long there was an opportunity to catch an example of great structural engineering along the way.

Here is a view of the Milau viaduct, which spans the valley of the river Tarn in southern France. Designed by structural engineer Michel Virlogeux and architect Sir Norman Foster. It is the tallest vehicle bridge in the world and our convey traversed it safely.

Once the shipment arrived in Barcelona it was housed at the venue in a climate controlled store until the exhibition was ready to be installed.

Edwin Smith / RIBA Library Photographs Collection

Once arrived back in London the objects were safely offloaded and installed at their new venue.

Our next stop will be sunny Spain!

The life of a courier

A rather dull service station in France - Cat was prepared however with her trusty winter hoodie.

A bit chilly!

Gratuitous arty shot

The mist in France gave the light a real ethereal quality making photography quite appealing - its something to do over the 16 hour journey.

Courier's guide to roadside twitching

We noticed whilst driving through France for most of the second day that you can see a whole array of birds of prey, up to ten species no less. Unfortunately we were in a moving vehicle so photography of them was a little difficult.

However, here is an artist’s of the types we saw. A sparrowhawk, a perregrine falcon and a short-toed eagle. Bill Oddie eat your heart out! OES told us that it was very common to see them on their travels and they passed their bird spotting addiction on to us. By the end of the journey all three couriers were converted ‘twitchers’.

A winter's morning in Milan

We set off from Milan at 6:30. The day started from Lise from OES defrosting the following car’s windscreen with her bare hands - now thats hardcore. It was surprisingly more effective than a credit card but not for the feint hearted.

Weather watch - cold, snow, fog.

Jazz club "Nice"

Ahh the mountains again - makes you wish you were on holiday.

Driving through the alps for 5 hours does have some advantages!

No job too big

Packing challenge - to pack two very large crates. These two crates were the last to go on the truck and logistically it was a challenge to make them fit. No problem for OES and Arteria!

Supporting batons

Wood joists were used to secure the two crates, distribute their weight and minimise vibrations.

Working together - two companies, one goal

The crates were strapped together to stop them sliding on the truck. It took a joint effort by all the crew to get them on.

Ready to go

Mission accomplished - perfetto! All objects safely on the truck.

By this point Lisa was very very cold, time to get going. The truck was then driven to Milan and secured in overnight storage.

Objects on the truck

After our excursion to Venice it was back to work.

The loans were packed onto the truck according to a layout plan. The road was closed throughout by the police, allowing no vehicles or predetrians any access whatsoever to the space outside the Palazzo.

Sometimes, however good the packing plan may be, this has to be abandoned. This was the case here as the crates could not be stacked.

Weather Check: Bitterly cold.

Revised plan for loading

This is an image of the revised packing solution. The wooden crates at the back are stable enough to be stacked creating more room for other loans.

Permission was sought from the lenders before any stacking took place. All crates are secured to the side of the van using ties and security clamps.

No Venice?? They ask.

Everyday in Vicenza we were asked whether we would be going to Venice in our time off. We were not needed to work on the weekend so we decided we might as well go.

It was a lovely day, cold but sunny.

One word of warning - check your return trains before its too late. The train timetable was not correct and our ‘last train’ did not exist causing an impromptu overnight stay in a delightful pensione with no heating.

Cat is now also full of cold.

Yum!

But we could think of worst places to get stuck!