An Open Letter: To the CEOs of all the major UK Corporations from Independently Owned Digital and Marketing Agencies
Dear CEOs,
Firstly, we thank you for your business.
Your custom supports over 15,000 independently owned Digital and Marketing agencies in the UK. Without your business we would not have such a vibrant creative sector, which is so important to the future of the UK economy.
But we are writing to you to ask for further support. We need you to change your standard payment terms for your SME suppliers. These currently range from 30 to 60 day payment terms. These payments are killing our businesses' cash flow and our ability to invest in our growth and new jobs.
We want you to put yourself in our shoes.
Just imagine, if every time one of your customers walked into one of your shops, banks or airports and demanded that they would not pay for your product or service until 60 days after consuming it. That would cause immeasurable harm to your business’ finances.
There are no legal or technological barriers to paying your SME suppliers faster. And we would draw your attention to Marks and Spencer, who have recently changed their standard payment terms to seven days.
We ask respectively for you to follow Marks and Spencer’s example.
And adopt the following standard for your SME suppliers:
· Seven day payment terms as standard for all of your SME suppliers
· Measure and monitor performance on late payment to your SME suppliers
· Educate your employees of the economic importance of supporting SMEs suppliers through prompt and efficient payments
Once again, we thank you for custom and we hope that you will engage with our industry to address this challenge that we face when we do business with you.
Studiospace commitment to its Independently Owned Agency partners
Studiospace will continue to offer all of its agencies that it partners with, early payment terms of no longer than seven days after completion of work. We pledge to continue this policy, until we see seven day payment terms as standard across the UK for all SME suppliers..
Yours sincerely,
Pete Sayburn,
CEO Studiospace
