Keep lines of communication open, says  John Jenkins

I MET John Jenkins, who is chief executive of the GE Capital operation in the UK. He oversees four business divisions: fleet finance; distributor finance; equipment finance; and a lending business.

John was at the GE Future of Fleet conference where I had been invited to speak. Although most of the business John oversees is with larger companies, there is some SME business.

And John was highly complimentary about many of the SME businesses he had met during the recession: “I’m seeing less pain than I anticipated. I’ve certainly seen tightness and stress and no doubt the deferment of VAT and PAYE payments has helped.

“But I think in Q4 and Q1 next year we might see some business failures because the deferment period is over and their interest rates have gone up.”

If that’s the case, I asked John what advice he would give small businesses to help ride out the recession through to the upturn.

“I think you must talk to your suppliers – keep the dialogue open. We’ve helped more businesses that way than through businesses where we’ve ‘found out’ about their issues.

“You need to look at your cost base and your cash flow. Can your debtors pay earlier, or could you use debt factoring to increase liquidity?

“I’m also mindful that small buinesses should take the opportunity for expansion. If you are suffering, then certainly your competitors will be. In my experience small businesses have a narrow view of their competitors – look wider and think about buying up or outperforming your competitors. It’s a great opportunity.”