Sheryl Toby Featured on MSNBC’s "Your Business" Program Discussing Challenges Faced by Businesses Dealing With Extended Payment Terms

Sheryl Toby, metro Detroit-based member of Dykema's Business Services Department, was featured on MSNBC’s “Your Business” program on Sunday, March 5, 2017. Sheryl was interviewed for the segment titled “How do small businesses survive being paid later?”

In the video, Sheryl empathized with small businesses facing challenges from lengthy payment terms, but she also encouraged suppliers to understand the ballpark they’ve chosen to do business in. At the outset of the relationship, it is important to understand the business terms and what can be expected. Sheryl noted that often suppliers will accept customer contracts that do not work for the supplier in order to land the business. She encouraged suppliers to develop business plans that meet the reality of what can be expected from the customer base noting that “denial is not a business plan.” As an example, the supplier may want to focus efforts on diversification of the supplier’s customer base and become less dependent on customers that do not meet the suppliers needed payment model. She also noted that in her experience, good communication between the supplier and the customer is key and a lack of communication is often the source of problems in payment terms between suppliers and customers.

To see the entire segment, click here.