Unless your business is entirely based online, there’s a chance at some point you will be asked to take a cash payment.
If you’re anything like most business owners, this will be met with something of a sigh. If not, then perhaps you have not yet made the switch to anticipate a society that is changing in how it uses money… which means you’re probably in need of a catch up.
Let’s be honest: cash is pretty inconvenient these days. In fact, we are charging towards a fully cashless society with wild abandon - and is it any wonder why?
Electronic Payment Is More Convenient
Is it possible to argue against that statement?
It doesn’t seem so - electronic payments are more convenient than their cash alternatives for a variety of reasons. If you do accept cash payments, you might be overlooking the myriad of benefits that are available when it comes to making the switch:
- Electronic payments are not going to degrade, so you don’t need to worry about damaging a note or similar.
- Electronic payments are far easier to track. A couple of clicks and you can see what came in and where it came from. There’s no need to write everything down and then have to scour over your records meticulously; it’s all right there in front of you on your smartphone screen.
- It’s easier to generate receipts, especially if the customers allow you to email them.
- It’s better for the environment. That’s not just in the fact that less cash money means fewer trees being used to produce it, but also the way electronic payments and receipts mean you have to print less to get your business work done.
- You don’t have to find the time in your day to take electronic payments to the bank, which is both inconvenient and a security risk. The money is right there in your account when you need it, too - so you don’t have to worry about processing fees and delays from personal checks.
Cash, on the other hand… does not have as many benefits. There is the fact it feels “real” and tangible to us, but you’re still able to lose it, tear it, or otherwise render it useless. The same just isn’t true of electronic money transactions, which is why these are becoming the leader when it comes to business finances.
That’s why, if you have yet to make the switch to accepting electronic methods of payment, you need to update… and you need to do it quickly.
There are a variety of reasons why people don’t engage with electronic payments. It might be because there are high fees associated with the transaction charges; this can certainly be a problem. However, there is a bigger downside to your finances if a customer expects an electronic payment method but can’t get it. Do you think they will go and get cash, or will they perhaps terminate their sale and go somewhere that’s more with the times? It’s a difficult dice to roll, that’s for sure. Is it one your business can afford to roll?
If you are concerned about the safety of electronic payments, then that’s a more realistic concern - but still not one that you need to be excessively worried with. Thanks to tech innovations, payments that are done by electronic means are now safer than ever. Not only do they offer fraud protection for the consumer, but they can also help businesses track their customers and make sure that invoices are followed up on. This can make a huge difference when it comes to ensuring you get any money you are owed, plus there is an electronic paper trail you can follow to ensure every account is settled.
If you think there are other priorities for your business beyond converting to running a cashless payment system, then you might be wrong. More and more of us now expect to be able to use electronic means of payment, and those payment methods are changing too. We can now pay for goods with our smartphone, and there are further innovations down the road that will transform the methods we use now into stuff of the past one day. If you get left behind at this point, it’s just going to be tougher and tougher to catch up when the lightbulb finally hits you.
Even if your business is primarily a creative outlet, there is no reason not to embrace the changes technology can bring. So why not ensure the next time a customer asks “do you take cards?”, you can answer with a resounding, future-forward: “yes!”
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