In the light of the massive success of our previous £1 offer, we at Company Searches Made Simple have decided to do it again!

That’s right, for one day only, we are offering you the chance to run a company credit check for just £1.

Our £1 offer includes any single company credit report, director report or company document. It’s a time limited offer only for Wednesday 17th February ending at midnight…

Take advantage of the chance to check who you are doing business with and how you customers and competitors see you and your company.

Spread the news – every single report £1 for just 1 day!

The phrase ‘cash flow is king’, is no less true because of its overuse. Indeed, despite the fact that the government has announced that the UK is out of the recession, it is still vital that all small businesses maintain and manage their cash flow effectively.

From minimizing costs and maintaining healthy product margins, to reducing bad debt and keeping a close eye on your company’s finances there are many ways of maintaining a positive cash flow.

However, just any small business owner should observe the phrase ‘cash flow is king’, they should also take sometime to consider the thought that ‘failing to plan is planning to fail.’ In short, before your business incurs bad debt and you have to dedicate valuable time and resource to getting back the money you are owed, why not run a company credit check on the company you are planning to work with?

What have you got to lose?

There are a number of factors that contribute to a person’s decision to buy something, regardless of whether it is a product or a particular service. However, a company’s credit, for many people, is way down on the list.

Historically, consumers considered, price, quality and brand way before they thought about whether a company is safe to do business with. However, research has found, that the recession has changed the consumer mind set to such an extent, that many consumers are now looking to access a company credit report, way before they commit to buying.

Consumer watchdog James Matthews comments; “The recession has undoubtedly seen the return of consumer power. The well documented fall of many high street juggernauts has shown the consumer that no brand, however well established, is immune to economic difficulty. Therefore, many customers are more cautious and this can be seen in the rise of the number of people looking to access a company credit report, before committing to larger purchases.”

On Wednesday 27th January the team at Company Searches Made Simple decided to go all out and create a show stopping offer – any single report just £1!

At Company Searches Made Simple we’re all very aware of how important it is, particularly in our cautious climate, that businesses really do know who they are doing business with.  A simple and effective way to check out your competitors, potential business partners, suppliers and new clients, is to run a company credit check on them.

The company credit check reports provide you with an overview of what’s happening from a financial perspective, covering company credit score, details of directors (and other companies they are involved with), ccj information, mortgages, group structure, up to date accounts and accounts history.  Comprehensive information to provide you with a good understanding of how ‘sound’ the business is.

The £1 for 1 day offer ran from first thing Wednesday morning until midnight – and in that 24 hour period we sold a huge amount of company credit reports, company documents, director reports and company monitors.

Traffic to the site doubled – and whilst the transactions were only for £1 – the biggest impact has been what’s happened since we ran the offer. 

What appears to have happened is that companies have seen the value in the reports – and have come back to buy more. 

Our research tells us that even without running any offers, our company credit reports are the cheapest on the market, and yet whilst they are low cost, we don’t skimp on quality – the company credit reports are very comprehensive.

We’ve sold more company credit report packages since our first £1 offer too – and with packages starting at just £17, and you can purchase ‘unlimited reports’ for just £200, then it’s no surprise, that having sampled the reports (for just £1) – companies are coming back for more.

For those that purchased a report during our offer – we now welcome you to our ‘Priority Notification of Offers’ club.  We’ll be notifying you 48 hours before anyone else of our next £1 – so be prepared to hear from us very soon…

So here’s our 4 ways you can use a company credit report effectively – to assist with your decision making:

1. If you are looking for a new supplier – be it a builder for your kitchen extension, or a new hardware support service – how do you know the people you are talking to are telling you the truth.  We know of one case where a woman lost £50,000 (yes really) to a rogue builder.  They took the money as deposit to buy materials – and she never saw them again!   Had she done a company credit report – she’d have seen the CCJs, the negative accounts etc.  It may have made her think twice before parting with her hard earned cash!
2. You’ve put out a tender and you’ve received a number of replies.  That’s good news.  The 200 responses all look like strong candidates for the tender – so how do you make a decision on whom to shortlist.  Organisations in this position are using company credit reports to assist them in separating the wheat from the chafe.  You can set some criteria – and all those that don’t come up to scratch in their company credit report – be it credit rating or whichever criteria you set – you can very simply and quickly begin to drill down to your shortlist. Simple!
3. It’s a joint venture situation – you’ve met, it’s all looking great – there’s terrific synergy between the two solutions – however, there’s a little niggle in the back of your mind and you’re not quite sure why!  To safeguard your brand reputation and customer base, you want to be sure that the people you partner with have the same ethics and good business practice as yourselves.  Of course, you can check out their customer testimonials and get a few references too – but a sure way to make sure everything ‘stands up’ as they say it does – is to use a company credit report.  You’ll be able to check out the Directors as well – and view whether they have any other business interests that you should be aware of prior to signing on the dotted line.  Forewarned is forearmed – and using a company credit report to check out the financial and current history of business – it’s a good way to be prepared for what’s ahead.
4. You’re out for expansion – and looking at winning new business.  You’ve landed a great opportunity to pitch for a sizeable piece of business – so what next?  Well of course, you do the usual research, their website, their competitors – and you get a feel for their landscape.  But what about them and their set up – are they as successful as they would have you believe?  A perfect resource for getting prepared in this situation is again to run a company credit report – the information provides you with financial accounts for up to 5 years – so you can see what’s been happening in their business.  You’ll also find information about their directors – and group structure.  And there might be some unexpected information in there too – who knows.  But best that you do…

Accessing company information has never been more affordable or simpler – Company Searches Made Simple offers packages which start at just £17!  Single reports for one off research from just £1.95 – and if for those that really get into using their company credit reports as part of their business – then there’s an Unlimited Package for just £200 per year.

With the cheapest company credit reports on the market – for all the reasons mentioned above, it really is a no brainer to be checking out businesses, particularly when you can be doing so for so little expense.

Check out the packages and reports at www.companysearchesmadesimple.com today!

A friend of ours is planning to put in a new kitchen.  Like all domestic projects, he and his wife have gone out to a number of local kitchen companies, had them visit the premises, prepare drawings and obtain quotes.  Whichever way they cut it, they look like they are going to end up spending something in the region of £25,000 on their new kitchen and all the companies who have put forward proposals for this work have asked for a deposit in advance of the work commencing ranging from 25 to 50%.

I happened to mention to them that someone else I know was recently carrying out some work on their house and paid a deposit only for the company to go into liquidation and for the deposit to be lost.

It really surprises me, in the current economic climate, with people being prepared to spend sizeable sums on their homes that they don’t spend just a few extra pounds on obtaining a credit report on the companies with whom they might be instructing.

A credit report can show some warning signs that can make you think twice about who you deal with and should be a factor in making the final decision.  The report can provide you with a credit rating on the company together with an indication of their financial stability.  Sure, it is no guarantee of solvency, but it can give some clues and can lead you to asking further questions.

My advice is whenever you are thinking of spending some serious money even in a domestic situation; obtain a credit report on the company before you part with any money.

 The use of credit reports to check on companies you trade with is an essential tool in managing your business successfully.

However, some people would be surprised that many companies regularly check their own company.  There are many reasons why companies do this including:

1.         It is vitally important to see how your rating stacks up.  Do you have a good credit score or are you being penalised in some way.

2.         If for any reason your credit score is lower than you think, there is no reason why you can’t contact the particular provider of the credit report and ask them for an explanation.

3.         As credit reports include considerable information stored at Companies House, it is a useful way of checking that that information is correct.  We know of a number of companies who on checking their director information through a credit report have found that erroneous directors of their company have been appointed.

Keep an eye on your own company as the withholding of credit by a supplier because of  a poor credit check can do as much damage to your business as anything else.

A recent survey has shown that only a minority of companies make company credit checks on suppliers and customers in the normal course of business.

Obtaining a credit report on a company has never been easier with a multitude of suppliers providing analysed data online from as little as under £2.

The information available ranges from accounting and statutory information filed at Companies House right through to detailed credit scores and credit checks based on information drawn from a variety of sources.

Whilst credit scores are a subjective measure, sophisticated software systems have now been able to provide much guidance to users of such reports to at least raise alerts and the need for guidance when dealing with specific companies.

In these difficult times, taking out a company credit report on a potential customer is only the start of the process.  Apart from ensuring you implement excellent credit control procedures, regular reports should be obtained as a company’s circumstances can change very quickly.

One way of dealing with this is by making use of Companies House monitor service which for a very low cost, provides an alert by email every time a change takes place on the official record.  Whilst Companies House offer this for a low cost, you need to have a monthly subscribed account with them and an alternative is by taking advantage of the same service provided by independent service providers.

The annual Barclays late payments report has suggested that there has been a 20% rise in late payments and bad debts written off in the past 12 months have been almost £5bn – that’s £1133 for every small and medium sized business in the UK.

Government figures are showing corporate insolvencies soaring and many experts in the credit and debt collection sector are urging businesses to instigate proper debt collection procedures to ensure survival.

One way many companies achieve this is by constantly making use of the services provided by company credit report websites.  Checking a company’s credit rating online is now affordable and quick.

The Working Capital Scheme run by the Department of Business and introduced by Lord Mandelson in January 2009 was an attempt by government to boost the amount of credit available to small businesses.

Essentially, the government provided banks with guarantees covering 50% of the risk on existing and new working capital portfolios up to £20bn.

The first £1bn tranche of the scheme was due to be launched by 1 March to support about £2bn of loans for companies with a turnover up to £500m. 

All the main banks are taking part in the scheme.