The cashflow conversation
Profit on paper and cash in the bank are different things, and many clients only feel the gap when it's painful. A good cashflow conversation makes the invisible visible before it bites.
What this play helps you do
- Help the client separate profit from cash
- Trace a cash gap back to its real cause
- Make the working-capital cost of slow payers tangible
- Agree practical levers the client can pull
- Position recovery as one lever among several
7 min
When to have this conversation
The cashflow conversation belongs at any point where the client's reported profit and their lived experience diverge. They are 'making money' yet constantly tight; they delay a supplier or their own drawings; they ask whether they can afford a hire that the P&L says they can. Those moments are openings.
It is also a natural fit for any periodic review. Rather than waiting for a crunch, fold a short cash look into every quarterly catch-up so the client builds intuition over time and small issues surface early.
How to open it
Start from the client's own confusion, which is usually 'where does the money go?'. Naming that mystery invites them in, because it matches what they already feel.
- 'Your business is profitable, but I suspect the cash doesn't feel that way day to day. Shall we work out why?'
- 'On paper you made good money last quarter. How did the bank balance actually feel?'
- 'I want to show you the difference between what you earned and what you've collected — they're not the same number.'
What to say (talking points)
The core idea is that a sale is not cash until it is collected. Make that concrete with the client's own figures rather than theory.
- 'You invoiced $400k last quarter, but $90k of it is still sitting in debtors. That $90k is profit you can't spend.'
- 'Every extra week your customers take to pay is a week you're funding their business out of your own pocket.'
- 'If we pulled your average collection time back from 55 days to 40, that's real cash back in your account without selling a single extra job.'
Encourage the client to think in terms of the cash conversion cycle: how long money is tied up between paying for work and getting paid for it. The shorter that cycle, the less they need to borrow or worry.
Handling pushback
Clients sometimes shrug this off as 'just how the industry works' or assume the only fix is to chase harder, which they dislike. Meet both gently.
- To 'it's just the industry': 'Slow terms may be normal, but how well you collect within them is still in your control — and that's where the cash difference lives.'
- To 'I hate chasing': 'You don't have to be the one chasing. Some of this is process, some of it can be handed to people who do it for a living. Let's find a version you're comfortable with.'
Turning it into action
Translate the discussion into one or two levers the client will actually use. The strongest levers are usually invoicing faster, tightening terms, and collecting overdue amounts more firmly.
Where a chunk of the gap is old, stuck debt, recovering it is often the quickest cash win available. A commission-only partner only charges on what they collect, so referring an aged account turns dead money back into live cash at little risk. You can refer a debt for the client or browse the library together for ideas to tighten their own process. Agree the step, set a date, and revisit the cash position next time.
Key takeaways
- A sale only becomes cash when it is collected
- Tie the cash gap to a specific dollar figure in debtors
- Frame slow payment as funding the customer's business
- Convert the talk into one or two levers the client will use
FAQ
How do I make cashflow feel urgent without scaring the client?
Use their own numbers and keep the tone matter-of-fact. Showing exactly how much profit is locked in debtors creates urgency through clarity rather than alarm.
What's the single most useful metric to discuss?
Days sales outstanding, or average collection time, is a good anchor. It is intuitive, easy to track, and directly shows the cash impact of faster or slower payment.
Is recovering old debt really a cashflow lever?
Yes. Aged debt is cash already earned but not collected. Recovering it releases working capital without any new sales, which is often the fastest improvement available.
Run the play — we'll handle recovery
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