Business Debt Negotiation - Why the Big Mystery?

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When cash flow becomes inadequate, you need to stop the bleeding. You have to stop your business's lifeblood from draining away. And if you can't immediately find a new transfusion source, it's essential to cauterize the wound.

An effective way to do this is to delay payment of non-essential accounts. This is not likely to go down well. Suppliers will become angry and frustrated, which is understandable. They might even be in the same boat as you. But they'll be even more upset if you go out of business and leave them with nothing. You have to let them know what's going on and show them how you are working in their best interests.

Once your business is stabilized you should have a better handle on its blood supply. This comes from increased sales, or from additional loan or investment capital. And at this point you will know enough and have enough spare cash to start making deals with creditors. How you deal with them will depend on your prospects and how much cash is available.

The business debt settlement process can be very straightforward. Given the alternatives, it benefits both your business and your suppliers. The trouble is, so few lawyers or accountants know much about it. An across-the-board debt settlement is known as a workout. It is standard practice within the turnaround management community, which typically works with troubled big businesses. But it is relatively unknown amongst legal and financial professionals who provide service to small to medium sized companies.

Why is this process such a mystery? Why are small business owners commonly advised to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation, when a better alternative may present itself? Part of this might be that debt negotiation and deal making are foreign concepts to many professionals. It wasn't part of their college curriculum and there's little understanding of it. Possibly, for this reason, they don't want to consider or discuss it with clients.

From your perspective, it may feel easier to heed such advice and succumb to a tried and true legal remedy - bankruptcy - than to take the more entrepreneurial approach of facing up to the barriers and challenges to your business.

The fact is, of you are an effective business owner, you know how to sell. Ultimately, you may have to sell debt settlement solutions to your company's creditors. The trouble is, there are so few legal and financial professionals with this mindset. They tend to favor established cook-book remedies. If anything, the legal profession prefers a simple fight to a potentially complex negotiation. And accountants may be hard to convince that your listing of balance sheet liabilities can be fundamentally reduced in short order.

If you are taken to hospital after an accident, the medical staff doesn't tell you that they've no idea of how to stem the blood flow. Or that they have established Kevorkian procedures to make you die, rather than get you well. And that you shouldn't challenge their opinion because they know best and, anyway, they wouldn't know how to save you. As well, effective treatment with any alternative therapy would be "too difficult to consider." Now, that scenario is ridiculous. But it represents the kind of advice that's given every day to the owners of sick companies.

It's about time that more small to medium sized business professional service providers became familiar with the benefits of debt negotiation and workouts. Chapter 7 has its place. But if you are being advised to put your business through bankruptcy liquidation, ask the simple question, "What alternative options are available?" Chances are, you can still save your business.

Ken Thomson
Biz 911, Inc.
http://www.biz911.com

Check out Biz911, Inc., to find out more about how to protect and grow your business. Ken Thomson's book, "The Battle Scarred Guide to Small Business Debt Relief and Recovery", outlines in clear detail the steps to take to turnaround your struggling small to medium sized businesses. It is available at http://www.amazon.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ken_Thomson

Source: http://business-negotiation.blogspot.com/2012/07/business-debt-negotiation-why-big.html

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