A recent study by MasterCard, Kaiser and Comdata dismisses a long-held perception by buyers that they have less control on how they pay their vendors. When asked about the level of control on the payment method to vendors, the majority of buyers in this study (63%) believe they have a low degree of control.

However, this perception is in complete contrast to what vendors are really thinking. Vendors were asked in this study what would their response be to buyers be if they were mandated to accept virtual payements in lieu of a check. 82% of suppliers said they would be likely or very likely to accept, dispelling the perception buyers have about their ability to move from paper to electronic payments.

Here is a link to the rest of the article.

I have heard this concern many times during the course of my career  Buyers are fearful of the word “mandate” and believe that by telling their vendors how they will be paid versus asking, violates the spirit of their relationships and alienates the vendor.  Upon hearing this arguement, my next logical question is if the buyer has asked their vendors how they preferred to be paid.  Not surprisingly, most buyers have told me that this question has never been asked, which almost always leads to the buyer saying that they will do a follow-up survey to ask this question.  What inevitably happens in a follow-up discussion is the buyer never gets around to this discussion and then this to-do item ends up as part of a overall accounts payable project plan to streamline and improve the payment process.  Buyers continue as-if and nothing changes.

Does this sound familiar?

Does this describe your payment proactices?

Unfortunately, what I have described is a commmon theme amongst the B2B community, especially with small-to-medium sized businesses. Although checks as a form of payment continues to decrease, there is significant opportunity in this segment to both streamline and reduce costs related to accounts payable.

This study makes a not-surprisingly sound case that vendors want to be paid electronically and are happy to make this change whether or not it is mandated.  The fact is creating a more efficient and streamlined payment process is in the interests of both trading partners, except that in most cases, inertia gets in the way.  For most relationships, this continues to be true.

Buyers should not discount their vendorss aren’t as equally interested in creating efficiences, decreasing costs and making it easier to get paid.

Just ask them.