How much of a small business’s day goes into chasing?

A big part of a small business’s day goes into chasing: vendors who are late with material, customers who are late with payments, and staff who haven’t replied. Most of it happens by phone, one call at a time. Indian small businesses were owed ₹7.34 lakh crore in late payments in March 2024.

How big is the late payment problem?

A report by GAME, FISME and C2FO put delayed payments owed to MSMEs at ₹7.34 lakh crore as of March 2024. It has come down from earlier years, but it is still money that someone has to call about, again and again.

What does chasing look like inside a unit?

• Material. The vendor promised Monday. It’s Thursday. Two other orders wait on the same delivery.
• Payments. The bill went out weeks ago. Someone has to remember to call, and call again.
• People. A stage is stuck because the person who handles it is on leave, and nobody reassigned it.

None of this is hard. It is just constant, and it usually lands on the owner.

How do you chase less?

• Keep every promise in one place: who promised what, by when.
• Follow up on time, every time, without someone remembering to.
• Tell the owner only about what’s actually stuck.

Chasing doesn’t disappear, but it stops depending on one person’s memory. Read more in why the owner can’t take a Sunday off.