Dear Friends,
In October of 2002, our client overpaid us $315K. It came at a crazy moment. We had been working for this client for a year, and we were growing quickly. When we started the project, in our glorious naivete, we asked to be paid in advance for our work, and our lovely client said, “Sure.”
That arrangement worked great, right up until we had grown as a vendor to a size where procurement started to pay attention. For those of you familiar with payment schedules, you can imagine the surprise of procurement. We were immediately moved to a net 45-day payment, which meant we would be paid 45 days AFTER we submitted an invoice for work already performed. That effectively created a 75-day plus payment lag, but we still needed to pay our own employees on time.
When you add fast growth plus delayed payment, you get cash flow issues! It’s a typical conundrum for new, fast-growing companies. As I was trying to figure out what to do, and planning to take out a second mortgage on our home to bridge this gap, a miracle happened. We got an extra check from our client for $315K!!! Wow! This was exactly the amount we needed. It felt like divine intervention.
I knew the moment we got the over payment that we would need to give it back, but for a moment I wondered, “Do we need to pay it back right away? Can we hold off mentioning it while we catch up on our cash flow?” When confronted with tempting situations, we may hesitate, and even try to justify making the wrong decision, but we know in our hearts what is right.
I went to our client and let her know what had happened. She was delighted! For her, this was an extra $315K budget she could use for additional services from us. She wanted us to work it off over time, versus paying it back. So, not only did we increase our revenue, we bought a great deal of goodwill with our client.
Five years later, in 2007, another client overpaid us by more than $200K. This client is the only client in our 17-year history that disputed an invoice and didn’t pay us the full amount they owed us. Then, a few months later, an unexpected check arrived in the mail from that client. Another case of divine intervention? I thought to myself, “This is test.” Having already experienced the fabulous laws of karma, I knew we needed to get them the money back.
When our CFO sent a note to Accounts Payable that the company had overpaid us, they disputed it! It took us several months, and detailed reports, to convince this company to take back their money. Crazy!
In my experience, these are real forces in the Universe that can be depended upon:
- When you treat people well, you will be treated well
- When you’re trustworthy, people will trust you
- When you’re honest, you will be rewarded
- When you’re positive, positive things will happen to you
I’ve never been let down. We have many long-standing client relationships, but I am proud to say we are still with that original client. The leaders have turned over four or five times in those years, but our karma lives on!
With gratitude,
Barbara
CEO, ROI Communication
Chief Catalyst, Living ROI
P.S. – Some people ask me how I come up with topics for my newsletter. It’s an interesting process. I don’t! During the week, I am flooded with thoughts of the topic and “know” what I’ll be writing about. Honestly, if you asked me, “Were you dying to tell everyone you got overpaid and hesitated, even for a moment, in how fast you would pay it back?” I would have said, “No!” But, here we are. I follow my gut and know that this is the message I need to write. The message that will be of service to someone today.
I created Living ROI as a passion, to share what I’ve learned and support others who want to live more authentic, joyful and fulfilling lives. Please visit our website.
If you’d like to get my weekly newsletter, you can subscribe here.
