Want to buy me some vintage port?
By Graham Davies

Tom Peters, the business uber-guru, doesn’t read my blog looking for tips.

But today I will give you some advice which will be far more valuable than anything Tom can provide. It might save you or your company thousands,maybe millions, of pounds in 2009.

Business will never be the same again. As half the high street disappears without trace, as the automotive industry begs for bail outs, and as banking institutions flail on the brink saved only by the state, there is now no such thing as a rock-solid bluechip company.

What happened at Lehman Brothers has been described as an “uncontrolled bankruptcy”. A $75 billion hole. Did any of Lehman’s suppliers have any idea of its financial incontinence? Unlikely.

This was an impregnable financial behemoth if ever there was one. After all, the company slogan was “LEHMAN BROTHERS: WHERE VISIONS GET BUILT".

Do you have X-Ray vision? How much do you really know about the true financial stuation of the companies you supply or advise? Not much, I'd guess. In which case, it’s time to do some credit crunching of your own.

So, change your Terms of Business right now. Get 100% up front. Always.

Then send me a bottle of vintage port any time one of your clients goes under AFTER they’ve paid your most recent, timely, advance invoice.