You’ve just spent a couple of hours cooking dinner for your family and friends, or hosting a barbecue for your team. You’ve worked hard, and now your reward is about to arrive. You’ve got a big smile on your face, as you’re about to sign for a gorgeous bouquet of flowers or a box of delicious chocolaty treats.
But then, nothing happens. The check you’re hoping will be there to pay for all that food and drink remains unprocessed. You’re about to head to the bank to clear up the matter, when your bank manager informs you that the check you wrote was rejected. What do you do now?
The answer is not as straightforward as you’d hope. While all businesses have been affected, small businesses particularly have been frustrated by the pandemic.
Here’s a look at the top 5 reasons why writing a check doesn’t show up as paid in Quickbooks.
Accounting During COVID-19
If your business is relatively new, you might not be prepared for the extra work that comes with working remotely. Many small businesses were forced to shut down their physical locations and operate solely online during the pandemic. This means they had to adjust their processes and ensure their books were balanced each month. Luckily, Quickbooks released a number of extensions to help businesses during this time. For example, the Free Small Business Checking Account allows you to open a business checking account without paying a monthly fee.
These days, you can’t be sure if a customer will show up or if sales will hit the floor. If you’re tech savvy and have a team that can work remotely, you can use tools like Zoom for business calls and team meetings, and Slack for internal communication. This way, everyone stays in touch and aware of what’s going on, even when they’re apart. It also helps them feel more connected to the business even when they’re not physically in the office. After all, businesses that operate online during this time are still businesses, they just might choose to do business over video chat.
Receipts Aren’t Necessary
In days of old, a business would receive an order from a customer, and then they would dispatch a staff member to pick up the goods and bring them to the customer. On their way to the store, the sales person would stop at a coffee shop to get some coffee, and on the trip back, they’d stop at a deli to get a sandwich for lunch.
These days, with businesses operating remotely and deliveries taking place digitally, receipts aren’t as necessary. When your order comes in, you’ll receive an email with a link to the itemized order. You can click the link to verify it came from them and know that the payment went through. If you accept credit cards, you won’t even need to keep a record of customer payments, as Visa and MasterCard have guaranteed payment in full protection policies. So while your business might not be operating in the traditional manner, your financial records are still very much needed, and you should keep them close at hand.
Not All Sales Are Equal
Back when retail stores were closed and customers were only shopping online, businesses had to find a way to make it worth the customer’s while. With the introduction of virtual shopping, some businesses found that not all sales are equal. For instance, if your store sells bedsheets and your customer is purchasing a fitted sheet, there’s clearly a difference in the value of that order as compared to a customer who bought a small toy for their kid.
With both instances, the customer ends up with something they need. But in the first instance, the business makes a profit because they sell one more bedsheet than they would have otherwise sold. In the second instance, the customer pays out of pocket because there’s no profit for the business in a product they consider to be a loss leader.
In both situations, the customer is happy, and you can bet they’ll be back for more. So while it’s tempting to offer customers the best deal you can find, sometimes not all sales are created equal. Take the time to understand what your customer is after, and you’ll be able to position yourself as an expert and land that sale.
Not All Income Is Created Equal
Income isn’t just about how much money you make. It’s also about how much money you keep. When a business earns revenue, but doesn’t have enough money to cover the cost of goods sold, they have income but no cash. This creates a bit of a conundrum, as you need to make a profit in order to stay in business, but you also need to have money to pay your employees and buy the raw materials to make your products.
Depending on how bad you want to get it, you can take 2 approaches. You can either decide to keep taking on more and more debt, or you can close down the shop and start over. The first approach isn’t for everyone, but it might be the only way for a certain type of business. If you decide to keep operating and take on more and more debt, eventually you’ll have to declare bankruptcy, which can have serious financial repercussions. At that point, your best bet for staving off financial ruin is to start over completely.
No One Loves Cancellations
In the world of online stores, customers cancel their orders all the time. Sometimes they change their minds or discover they’re allergic to something in the product they’re buying. While it’s frustrating when this happens, especially if you’ve spent a lot of time and effort putting together that order, it’s also not the end of the world. You can’t really hold it against the customer, as it’s probably just a glitch in their system that caused the order to be canceled. There’s no need to get bent out of shape about it. Instead, fix the problem and move on.
On the other hand, if you run a retail store and someone decides to walk out without paying, it can be a different story. Your store might have put in a lot of effort getting that customer’s business, and you want to be compensated for your troubles. In this case, it’s essential that you have a good note of what happened, so you don’t make the same mistake twice. But other than that, you should have no worries
As you can see, all businesses have been affected by the pandemic. It started with a small number of shops closing down their doors, and then slowly grew as more and more businesses were forced to adapt and change. With each new day, the situation is evolving, and more and more businesses are feeling the pinch. As time passes, we’re sure that more and more of these quirks and shortcuts will be uncovered, and more and more of our traditional ways of doing business will be replaced by new methods.