4 Ways to Make Your Business Payments Work for You

Running a business can be a challenging endeavour, especially during the initial phases of setting up systems. 

One particular system that you, as an entrepreneur, have to be quite perceptive of is your financial system. In particular, you must be proficient in handling the business’s cash inflows and outflows and ensuring that your business maximizes on retaining a healthy cut of capital for every transaction.

Money is a resource that you have to guard and use in the realm of business. The way you handle payments can directly impact your profitability, so it’s in your best interest to use payments wisely to ensure optimal growth.

If you want to ensure that your payment system is set up in a way that achieves a good cut of profit, you’re in the right place. We’ll break down some practical ways you can get your business payments to work for you.

Let’s jump straight into it.

What Does Business Payment Mean?

Business payment may seem like a broad classification, but it can be tightly classified as any fund exchange made by a business or consumer to your business and vice versa as a means of payment for a sale or transaction.

For instance, when you pay a supplier for inventory, raw materials, or products, then that’s a form of business payment. If you pay a freelancer or contractor for a project, this is also a form of business payment. Overhead expenses are also a form of business payment.

In essence, any expense you paid to keep your operations running smoothly is a form of business payment, whether that’s a utility expense, a recurring software subscription, or taxes. These payments can be made through various methods, like credit card payments or digital wallets. 

But at the end of the day, the core concept prevails. A business payment ensures that various stakeholders are properly compensated for their contributions, allowing you to smoothly and sustainably grow your business.

4 Ways to Make Business Payments Work For You

To make business payments work for you, you’ll have to be intentional with the way you set internal systems up to ensure that they’re beneficial for your overall operations. 

Upholding good payment habits like paying promptly and collecting invoices quickly is the goal here. And the good news is that some tools and strategies can help businesses achieve this goal.

Let’s take a look at four such ways you can make your business payment operations work for you.

Use The Right Payment Facilitating Tools and Platforms.

One way you can make money move quickly and efficiently across different business accounts is by using the right payment tools and platforms. 

The right tool helps not only in streamlining transactions, but it also reduces the odds of human errors when calculating figures and generating invoices.

For instance, if you’re conducting business in Australia, it’s practically mandatory to buy Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale (EFTPOS) equipment to facilitate payments, especially if you have a physical storefront. 

This tool allows customers to swipe or insert their card into a designated terminal (or hover their phone above it with the right app opened). From there, the tool reads the chip and processes the payment, taking funds out of the customer’s account and transferring them into the business’s connected bank account.

In essence, this tool is an electronic terminal that grants buyers the ability to pay through various payment methods, like credit cards, debit cards, and digital wallet systems like Google Pay and Apple Pay. 

This method helps pay businesses back by ensuring that your earnings are properly accounted for and not at any extra risk, especially if you’re just switching from cash-only systems. 

With much of Australia and the world opting for convenient payments, having this tool is crucial in ensuring that you’re within the sphere of adaptation and not getting left behind.

Curious to know more about the mechanisms of an EFTPOS machine? Click here to learn more about it.

Automate Recurring Transactions.

Do you spend a lot of time creating bills from scratch or paying the bills for various utility accounts each month? 

If you’re handling all these tasks manually, it can take quite a bit of time out of your day for something fairly minuscule. And if you somehow forget to pay, it can lead to expensive fines and penalties that we’d agree are best avoided.

One way to circumvent this is by automating your recurring transactions. This is possible and fairly easy for average users to set up, and the reward of not having to pay close attention to these recurring bills can be a big burden off your shoulders.

There are several ways to get started. For one, you can configure your bank app’s settings and built-in auto-pay features to schedule payments for utilities, rent, and supplier invoices. You can also ask your relationship manager or the bank’s customer service to assist you with this automated payment request.

Whichever method you choose, knowing that your financial obligations are automated in the background can be a big help in paying back. It helps you put the bulk of your focus on the things that truly matter in both business and personal life.

Take Advantage of Rewards Programs.

Making business payments doesn’t have to be a one-way street; you can actually earn something back from them through reward programmes offered by various sources, such as your bank and credit card company.

These financial institutions incentivise transactions by providing perks and benefits once a user has accumulated enough points to earn these rewards. 

For instance, you might gain access to cashback offers, air miles, shopping vouchers, or discounts on essential business services once you’ve reached a certain spending threshold.

By routing regular expenses through these reward-enabled accounts, you can make your spending work harder for you.

In turn, this can make special costs like travel expenses attainable at a very cheap rate, allowing you to put your earnings into other cost categories and improving overall business flexibility.

Negotiate and Develop Better Relations with Vendors.

Lastly, one final way to get your business to work for you is to communicate with your vendors and make deals with them. 

Your vendors and suppliers are crucial stakeholders who keep your operations running continuously. They provide the inventory, and as this is the case, you must keep them close and on good terms with you so that you both can mutually benefit from each other over the long term.

This doesn’t mean accepting just any deal with them, however. You should also try to leverage your continued patronage with them to your advantage. 

For instance, if you order with them in bulk, consider negotiating terms and discounts so that your finances can get some much-needed breathing room. But don’t go about this proposition aggressively, do it once you’ve shown your worth as a customer.

By establishing good relationships with your vendors, you can build long-term trust and cooperation. And when this is achieved, both your companies can continue to prosper and earn money.

All the best in achieving business success and getting your business payments to work for you!