Budget Wars - A New Hope (with apologies to George Lucas)

f0xh0les

I agree. Sell the high cost piece of kit being underused, pay the bills and keep the rest as a buffer / payment on next year's bills/ less high end piece of kit that does the same job.

Really hope you get a few last minute bookings to fill in the perceived deficit from the cancelled one. It is no consolation, but it is a reminder, that you can't count on some bookings to turn into cold hard cash. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be for you.

Bobarella

Foxholes Thank you for your thoughts. It is something I am trying to put real thought into on how to work it with bookings. The issue I have tends to go like this.

Day 1 someone enquires. Day 2 they view. For many on that day they will confirm they want the place and I will then send my payment information. Some people will have the money to me by the end of the day. For others there are other people involved in the decision making process so they need a day or so to consult.
Day 5 confirmation, then I send the info.

This is where the gap can come, how many days is it good to allow people to get payment to you without sounding like a crazy person. I have faster payment on my bank. I know for a fact if someone does pay me then it can be in my bank within 2 hours. Personally I think 2 days is enough time to chase politely, oh did you get my details right etc....

The issue I have is that I am not yet busy enough to be able to say oh well I am happy to cut people out if they want to book but don't pay within 2/3 days. I do actually need all the bookings.
So I have ended up chasing people for several weeks before payment arrives. If no one else is after that date then it remains that I'd rather chase the person who hasn't yet cancelled.

There is also the fact that some of the people I'm dealing with on a longer term basis can be difficult. The person who cancelled this month had done a week last month. Before they had even done that week they were after me to soft option some future dates. It feels churlish on my behalf to say, no I won't do that without a deposit.
I know what it's like in this game. Many of the small traders I'm dealing with live hand to mouth, which is very familiar to me too!

So either I have to set some very hard and fast rules, which might actually lose me money because people who could pay in 5 days can't manage 3. Or I won't take soft options and lose business that way. Or I continue as I am...I suppose the golden rule here is that given time and a little more success I could afford to build up enough to avoid cancellation and slow payers being an issue. But it's a matter of time as usual.

Verbatim

Hi Bob,
I'm in the Thames Water area and have no bills in Feb and March. Does that apply to you too?

crazy_cat_lady

Bob - I have no idea how this works, but is it an option to say that you can't guarantee the booking if not paid in 72 hours, or whatever? I get that you need the bookings, and it's not as final as saying that if they don't pay up quickly then they don't get the booking. It's kind of saying that if someone else comes along looking for the same dates and they haven't paid then they don't get.

Ratison

crazy_cat_lady wrote: »

Bob - I have no idea how this works, but is it an option to say that you can't guarantee the booking if not paid in 72 hours, or whatever? I get that you need the bookings, and it's not as final as saying that if they don't pay up quickly then they don't get the booking. It's kind of saying that if someone else comes along looking for the same dates and they haven't paid then they don't get.

Agree with this - and if you don't want to have to say it to people, maybe you could provide all prospective customers with a FAQ sheet, and have some questions about payment on there, about when deposit is expected, and how long full payment is expected after that. Saves you having to be strict in person, and you could send a generic reminder email with a set template a day or so before deadlines, with payment details.

Bobarella

Verbatim wrote: »

Hi Bob,
I'm in the Thames Water area and have no bills in Feb and March. Does that apply to you too?

Hi Verbatim

Good thinking, but we pay that over 12 months. Otherwise that would add another £29 a month to me big bills pot. Thanks for trying to help, appreciate it.:)

Bob

Bobarella

For some reason I can't reply to the message you wrote Ratison quoting Cat

Thanks both of you. I think a terms sheet might work very well. See it's always good to throw problems into this forum with so many thoughtful clever people around to answer.

mummytogirls

Hi Boberella, just wanted to pop in and say hi :wave: I caught up with your diary last night and the amount of cycling you do to and from the shop/premises is amazing :T

You're doing so well, keep going.

Also think the terms sheet is a good idea xx

parsniphead

Just my twopenneth worth.

I don't think its unreasonable to ask for a deposit on booking, or at least within a couple of days.

If someone is serious they will understand they have to hand over some money to we sure their booking.

Bobarella

mummytogirls wrote: »

Hi Boberella, just wanted to pop in and say hi :wave: I caught up with your diary last night and the amount of cycling you do to and from the shop/premises is amazing :T

You're doing so well, keep going.

Also think the terms sheet is a good idea xx

Thanks so much Mummytogirls Nice to hear your opinion. We don't have a car so the cycling is partly necessary

parsniphead wrote: »

Just my twopenneth worth.

I don't think its unreasonable to ask for a deposit on booking, or at least within a couple of days.

If someone is serious they will understand they have to hand over some money to we sure their booking.

Thank you Parsniphead I feel the same. My analogy is always, you can't expect to book a flight in June but not pay for it in January, if it's January you book in. I think sometimes it's hard for people to understand why payment in advance is necessary.