Feral Brewing, a brewery in the Swan Valley, pairs age-old traditions with newfangled flavours to craft legacy beers. The family-owned business keeps sustainability at the heart of its practice, so when Financial Controller, Anthony Bedford, needed a debtor management solution for the more than 500 customers who sip from Feral’s keg, it’s no surprise he turned to automation in the spirit of innovation and sustainability.
The enterprise has its fingers in a number of pies in Perth’s tantalising food and beer industry: a brewery shipping kegs, bottles and cans around Australia, a restaurant, beer garden, and even a merchandising arm for the die-hard fans. As the business acquires sales, the hundreds of invoices to credit customers each month also mean that debt is accrued.
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The debtor management problem
In 2014, Anthony started with Feral Brewing. The then 12-year-old company had 40 to 45 percent of its invoices outstanding in any given month. Anthony considered hiring a Credit Controller to reduce collection times. However the large amount of invoices to be followed up meant this wasn’t going to be effective. “With a large customer base, some with relatively small dollar amounts per invoice, an IT solution was the most cost effective option,” explains Anthony.
What worked in debt collection
Feral Brewing signed up with ezyCollect and set up a sync with their instance of MYOB. The ezyCollect platform was able to comprehensively map and track all accounts receivables activities. After personalising the in-built communications plan to suit their business, Feral Brewing started to send system generated reminders to all overdue customers. “The reminders automatically go out and that now requires less manpower from within the business” explains Anthony. “No one likes doing collections.”
“The reminders automatically go out and that now requires less manpower from within the business.“
The results
The consistent and regular follow-up generated from ezyCollect reminders soon generated results: within a few months Feral Brewing halved its overdue accounts. Consistent follow-up of overdue customers means a key performance indicator of overdue accounts at 20 percent was not just achieved, but often exceeded.
Within a few months, Feral Brewing reduced their overdue accounts by over 50%.
Operating capital has improved significantly and this has enhanced the cash flow, giving the business greater comfort and security. For a business that checks its cash flow daily, being able to forecast with confidence was another tick in the box.
Feral Brewing have mastered the formula for making beer, and now they’ve got the formula for getting paid on time with ezyCollect.
Anthony’s top tip for productivity:
Sales teams respond well to key performance indicators of sales per team. And a little bit of healthy interstate competition is great for motivation.
Anthony’s top tip for cash flow:
Keep an eye on your cash flow regularly. Consistently work at converting your debtors and stock into cash.
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