Monthly Archives: January 2012

Choosing an Invoice Factoring Company

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One common reason for choosing a certain invoice factoring company is better pricing or better terms. While the factoring industry is competitive and prices and terms can vary, you should also take “hidden costs” as well as “intangibles” into account. For example:

Commitment – Are they asking for a commitment of 6 months to a year, with penalties for leaving prior to your contract expiration date?

Monthly Minimums – Does the invoice factoring company require a monthly minimum fee based on your Accounts Receivables, and if your AR is short one month and you do not need to fund as much, will they still require you to pay that minimum fee so you end up paying for a service you’re not actually using?

Invoice Date Charges – Do they start charging you from the date on the invoice rather than the date you actually get the wired funds from them?

Responsiveness – How quickly does the invoice factoring company respond to your requests?

Quality of service – Are they handling your financing details properly, are they consistent with their requests for information?

Flexibility – Can the invoice factoring company adapt to the changing conditions of your organization quickly and efficiently?

Choosing an invoice factoring company for a lower price only to find out that their service levels do not meet your expectations can have a negative effect on your company. One thing you should keep in mind is that choosing an invoice factoring company will also impact your customers. They will need to receive and sign notices of assignment and will also need to direct their payments to a new address, which means you need to choose an invoice factoring company that is as professional in their dealings with you as you are with your customer.

Talk to The Interface Financial Group and see what your options are…You will not find a more professional or adaptable invoice factoring company to grow your business in the new year.

Sabeen Ahmed
The Interface Financial Group

2012 Necessities for Small Businesses

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Regardless of the resolutions that may have been made for 2012, there are several items, often overlooked or ignored, that are necessities for small business and are critical to small business success.

1. Business Plan – too many businesses operate by the seat-of-the-pants with little or no planning. Having a plan helps keep the business focused and the major benefit to you is the value the comes from the thought process one goes through when developing a plan. Establish goals and develop a plan to meet the goals. Update the plan as least quarterly making adjustments where necessary.

2. Accounting and Financial Statements – Accurate accounting is a necessity for every business to help manage the business, for taxes and for banks and other that need to understand the business. It is very important to be able to track revenues and expenses and to know what products or services are generating a profit. Having good accounting and financial statements are of the highest importance for any business.

3. Marketing – incorporated in the business plan should be the Marketing Plan for the business. Are you effectively marketing the business? What metrics are being used and measured? What is not working and what is?

4. Customer Service – do you understand and know who your customers are? Are you focused on providing the highest level of customer service? What is your customer satisfaction level and how is it being measured? Excellent customer service can increase sales but today, news of bad service can reach thousands of individuals in minutes.

5. Cash Flow – positive cash flow is the life blood of a business. When businesses are cash flow constrained it is important to have sources for cash when it is needed. Invoice factoring can provide cash quickly when required without hampering the business and is used by thousands of small businesses to help with cash flow.

Jan J. Cunningham
The Interface Financial Group

Factoring

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The holidays are behind us but for many small businesses, the production demand will not subside alongside the season; instead, with spring will come new construction projects, landscaping endeavors and home renovations. To begin preparing for this surge, businesses can use Factoring to meet their financial needs. Factoring companies such as the Interface Financial Group provide services by advancing working capital based on the value of accounts receivable, or invoices; unlike a bank loan, the focus is not on the credit worthiness of a business but on the financial assets.

How can factoring help your business grow this season? Instead of getting paid on your invoices later on, get paid today by selling your accounts receivable through invoice factoring. If you have a large order of grass seed to send out this spring, why not use factoring to get paid on those invoices now? It increases the capacity for production and presents an opportunity to flourish.

Laura Jojic
The Interface Financial Group

Invoice Factoring for Printing Companies

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The printing industry is changing, and facing unique challenges. For many small to medium-size printers, one of the most important considerations is managing cash flow. There is often a significant delay between the completion of a job and the issue of payment. In order to improve cash flow, printers can use invoice factoring to obtain vital funds while they wait for their customers to pay.

Any business with a long receivables turnover period can benefit from invoice factoring, and the service is particularly attractive for printing companies. By using invoice factoring, printers can create a regular income and help manage one of the greatest pitfalls of the industry – running out of funds during the long turnover periods. Since many small printers are sole proprietorships, the owners need their commission income to pay their daily living expenses. Invoice factoring can provide a great solution and much-needed security.

The Interface Financial Group is especially suited to invoice factoring for printers. As the only spot factoring company in the world, the Interface Financial Group’s form of invoice factoring offers flexibility and control to an industry that is filled with uncertainty. Printers can pick and choose the invoices they wish to sell. With invoice factoring, printers can be sure that they won’t miss opportunities to market and grow their businesses – even when cash is tight.

The printing industry may be tough right now, but there are still plenty of opportunities available. Invoice factoring can let printers take advantages of opportunities and grow their businesses, even under difficult circumstances.

David Munster
The Interface Financial Group

Manufacturing is Growing

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Recently good economic good news has been hard if not impossible to come by. So it’s surprising that according to the ISM index, manufacturing has been growing for 25 consecutive months. Although experts consider manufacturing to still be weak, at least it is in positive territory.

Concurrently we have seen an increase in the number of small manufacturers that are looking for business financing to support growth or even just to operate their businesses. Their challenge is that few if any financial institutions are issuing business loans. In the meantime, they are bridging their financial needs using accounts receivables factoring.

Accounts receivable factoring helps manufacturing companies by providing an upfront payment for their slow paying invoices. Instead of waiting up to 60 days to get paid, they get an advance from the account receivable factoring company and get immediate use of those funds. The transaction is settled once the customer pays in full.

The big advantage of accounts receivable factoring in this case is that it’s easier to obtain than a conventional business loan. This helps the company bridge their cash flow gap and improve their financial stability. Ideally, this will help them qualify for a business loan later on. In this scenario, The Interface Financial Group would be the ideal solution for these manufacturers since there is no contractual commitment of time so the client is welcome to leave as soon as they qualify for a bank loan or LOC.

Sabeen Ahmed
The Interface Financial Group

Wishes for New Year

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TD Bank surveyed their small business customers asking for the top wishes of the small business owners for 2012. The responses are interesting and provide some insight into many of the issues of 2011.

The bank surveyed 300 customers from Main to Florida, the banks primary US market area. The top response (61%), wish for increased sales for 2012. This has been the number one issue for most small businesses since the beginning of the economic downturn. Sales do appear to be increasing based on other small business surveys but there is much room for improvement and without increased sales there is no growth.

Other wishes for 2012 included eliminating debt, raises for employees, new equipment and/or software and a new or larger facility.

No one knows for sure but 2012 may be a year for growth. Companies that start growing will need capital to assist with cash flow. Invoice factoring can provide needed cash when required for growth in the business. It is simple to obtain and it it is fast providing cash when it is needed.

Jan J. Cunningham
The Interface Financial Group