Although many small and medium-sized businesses know the importance of background credit checks on new customers, a lack of familiarity with the process of actually carrying out a credit check can lead many to overlook this crucial step in their risk management.
Safe Collections have teamed up with credit check specialists Experian to make it easy and affordable for freelancers and fledgling businesses to begin credit checking new customers.
Each report contains the key points that you would receive in a full Experian credit report, such as the customer’s financials, their credit score, suggested payment terms and so on. These reports contain all of the information you would find in a full Experian business report and you can download a sample report here.
With six months to use your quota of reports, it’s an investment that will keep your cash flow protected for some time, with enough built-in capacity to cover a reasonable client base and rate of growth.
On top of all of that, Experian have agreed to provide an extra £20 worth of marketing data in addition to the credit reports, further helping you to concentrate on growing your fledgling business.
99 for £99 – The Fundamentals
What you get:
- 99 UK business credit reports – Credit score, financial history, spending patterns etc.
- Monitoring Alerts – Notification if a customer’s circumstances change, so you can adjust the credit you offer to them.
- £20 marketing credit – Access to the Experian prospect database. Filter by industry, company size, location etc. This credit should give you around 200 good prospects.
- 6 months access – Half a year to use your 99 searches as and when you need them.
Why do I need it?
The first two years are a hectic and unpredictable time for many businesses, especially microbusinesses, sole traders and freelancers.
Your client base is likely to be in a state of change for much of this time, until (if you are in an industry that permits it) you settle into a pattern of repeat orders and regular customers.
On top of this, a growing and changeable income can leave your cash flow in an unpredictable state too, and with setup costs to cover, any non-payment by a customer at this time can be especially punishing.
Background credit checks allow you to identify high-risk customers and either adjust your payment terms, or simply refuse to supply them at all.
With the £20 of marketing credit included in 99 for £99, you have a great opportunity to win some of your best clients early on, while the ongoing monitoring alerts will flag up any causes for concern as they emerge.
Together, this is a powerful package with the potential to prevent some cash flow issues from ever arising, and to minimise the negative impact of customer financial difficulties.
For an all-in price of less than £100, it’s a very affordable initial outlay that could ultimately earn you thousands and save you thousands more in late and lost payments.