4 Secrets of High-Performing Suppliers: How to Optimise Early Payments Using C2FO

New to C2FO? Here are some key insider tips to help you optimise early payment returns on the platform.

To date, C2FO has provided over $300 billion in working capital funding to suppliers like you worldwide, helping businesses get paid about 31 days early, on average. The platform is user-friendly, providing a fast, easy and affordable way to optimise your balance sheet by enabling you to offer buyers discounts in exchange for early payment.

If you have buyers in C2FO’s network, you are eligible to register for an account and start requesting early payments today. If you only use the platform occasionally, you are most likely missing out on significant cash flow gains — especially if you have multiple buyers or high accounts receivable (AR) volumes available for early payment.

Suppliers generally realise the most returns by using the platform regularly and optimising early payment offers according to their cash flow needs. Here are five tried-and-true ways that high-performing suppliers have used C2FO’s Early Pay solution to improve cash flow and grow.

1. Log in every day

Suppliers that see the most success requesting early payments with C2FO tend to log in and check the platform every day. As a business leader, you probably already review your balance sheets daily to keep track of invoices, expenses and other key financial information. Many suppliers in C2FO’s network integrate the platform into this routine, using it as an AR dashboard to monitor the payment status of key buyers. When you use the platform daily, you are also less likely to miss out on valuable early payment opportunities, and you can even improve the predictability of your accounts receivable.

2. Experiment with different discount rates

When you build an early payment offer, C2FO gives you three options for setting the invoice discount:

• Name Your Rate® allows you to manually enter a discount rate. The platform suggests rates that are more likely to be approved by buyers, but the rate is ultimately yours to set.
• The Trending Rate is a suggested discount rate that will likely be successful based on daily market activity. This rate raises your chance of success but does not guarantee approval.
• Express Accept is a discount rate that, if chosen, is approved instantly.

Each type of discount balances your chances of approval with cost — the higher the discount, the more likely your offer is to be approved. Because discounts are accepted or denied based on daily market activity, different buyers may accept different rates from day to day. High-performing suppliers use this as a chance to experiment with different rates.

As you get more familiar with how different rates perform, you can use this strategically to benefit your balance sheet. For example, it might be worthwhile to use Express Accept for high AR values if your balance sheet shows an urgent need for cash. On the other hand, you might try the Name Your Rate® option to see how far you can stretch the discount cost for a low-stakes invoice.

3. Don’t wait for a better rate

Imagine that you are creating an early payment offer, only to find that the Trending Rate or Express Accept rates for that day are higher than you anticipated. In this case, you might be tempted to hold off and wait until the next day, or the day after, to see if the rate goes down. However, this isn’t always the best strategy.

Most suppliers find that it makes more financial sense to proceed with the discount offer rather than roll the dice and wait, especially when there is market uncertainty. Even if the rate goes down after an offer is approved, you’ll still wait less time to access that cash — which may be worth the difference in cost anyway. What’s more, you won’t need to spend additional time or resources trying to predict an optimal rate. Instead, you can spend that energy moving forward with other early payment offers, finance projects or budgeting.

4. Set it and forget it

While suppliers that check C2FO daily tend to get the most out of the platform, this doesn’t mean that you have to build new discount offers every day to receive early payments. To save time, the platform has a useful recurring offer feature. This allows you to create a discount offer that automatically generates for all new invoices going forward — either for a specific buyer or for multiple buyers. If your balance sheet demands change, you can adjust the recurring offer parameters at any time.

These automated recurring offers are more popular within C2FO’s supplier network than one-time offers. This “set it and forget it” approach not only saves time but is also more predictable for cash flow forecasting. If you’re comfortable setting Trending Rate or Express Accept recurring offers, you can expect to see a significant cash flow increase over time from in-network buyers as new invoices are approved for early payment.

Early payments made easy

If you’ve only dabbled in using C2FO’s Early Pay solution as a registered supplier, you’re most likely underutilising key features that can accelerate cash flow and support business growth. If you’re still getting used to the platform, start by logging in daily to keep tabs on outstanding invoices and experiment with discount offers. Once you’re more comfortable and using recurring offers will help you optimize your balance sheet even further.

Still not registered? Find your buyers and log in today.