The Many Reasons Why Suppliers Love Working with C2FO

Businesses around the globe share their experiences accelerating payment on receivables through C2FO.

“It sounded too good to be true.”

That’s a comment we hear often from suppliers. When asked to join a customer’s early payment market on the C2FO platform — where they can choose which invoices to accelerate payment on, at rates that work for them — suppliers may suspect that it all seems a little too easy. 

“We thought we were getting scammed,” said Jack Leal, CFO for Petrochem Field Services, recalling when he first learned about C2FO. 

Upon closer inspection, however, the C2FO platform makes sense. Suppliers gain greater control over their cash flow by accelerating payment on invoices they select, at rates they determine. That flexibility encourages more suppliers to participate in the program, which in turn generates a return on cash for their customers. It’s a win-win for everyone. 

That’s especially true in times of economic uncertainty, which small- to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) are particularly vulnerable. Early payment can become a much-needed source of liquidity when funding from banks or governments falls short.

“SMBs are 90% of the nation’s economy,” said Bonnie Dibling, owner and CEO of Thinkpiece Partners, a C2FO customer. “Infuse liquidity into SMBs, and the economic river starts to flow once again. If SMBs survive, all survive.”

Once suppliers become familiar with C2FO, they quickly learn all the advantages of the platform. Below are the top six reasons why suppliers of all sizes around the world have come to appreciate the working capital solutions on the C2FO platform: 

Speed and simplicity of C2FO

“You can see your current billing position with each client and play with the discount rates of each invoice until you get the results you want. The first time I used it, the money was in my bank account within 72 hours, at a very competitive rate compared to the terms my bank would have offered.”

— Frédéric Thomas, Co-founder of Adefi (Bordeaux, France)

“I was a little nervous the first time we pushed that button. Then we saw the emails start flying through and we get notified by our bank that the monies are there the next day, and it was pretty impressive.”

— Jack Leal, CFO of Petrochem Field Services (Humble, Texas)

C2FO provides cash flow when you need it

“I know that once the invoices are in, if I’ve put the right offer in (C2FO), I’ll get paid in 14 days or less, and that in itself — to a small business — is gold.”

— Geoff Smith, Managing Director for CBM Corporate (North Perth, Australia)

“C2FO gave us the opportunity through Costco to access payments on our invoices earlier than we would normally. We didn’t have to wait 60 or 90 days to get paid. That was fantastic for us.”

— David Toma, President and CEO of Phantom Bikes (San Diego, Calif.)

“Small businesses like us have very low bargaining power in the supply chain. The biggest challenge we are facing is the payment term. C2FO, like a bridge, connects us with our clients and provides us an easy, efficient way to manage the accounts receivable. …It is the safest solution to increase cash flow, exactly what we need as a small business.”

— Zhou Chuanhong, General Manager of Suzhou Changtian Precision Machinery Co. (China)

“Liquidity is king in small business. (C2FO founder) Sandy Kemper built a company around that premise, and it works. C2FO has been hugely helpful to us to even out variances in our cash flow.” 

— Bonnie Dibling, CEO and owner of Thinkpiece Partners (Chicago, Ill.)

“Having C2FO provide our working capital is what helped us grow. It helped us succeed.”

— Lenny Sciarrino, Co-founder of Granite Gold Inc. (Poway, Calif.) 

Accelerated payment through C2FO is better than borrowing

“Having a third of our receivables paid in just a few days is huge. I don’t have to lean on our bank for the line as much as I used to. … If anything, it makes me look like a better customer to them because I don’t need them as much.”

— Sarah Cain, Co-owner of Capital Machine Co. (Jefferson City, Mo.)

“With C2FO, I could go in and select what invoices I wanted to pull in and when I needed them. It’s more convenient than a line of credit. It prevents you from having to take out that loan, it’s a lower interest rate and it’s a faster way to get funding.”

— Shelia Shaw, Co-owner of Arizona Bakery Sales & Service (Mesa, Ariz.)

The C2FO platform provides greater flexibility and more control

“We do some supply chain financing. It tends to be more complicated, more paperwork, more people need to get involved. The benefit of C2FO is it’s simple and it’s flexible, and it’s helping us meet our cash needs.”

— Dave Jones, Finance Director of Jacobs Douwe Egberts (Amsterdam, Netherlands) 

“C2FO is a life saver! We work with companies of all sizes, and typically the larger companies have us on 45- or 60-day terms. It’s very difficult for us to have working capital with these longer-term payments because we need to pay our employees every two weeks and pay for our overhead (rent, utilities, etc.) every month.

“Having the C2FO option allows us the opportunity to free up trapped cash so that we can keep our business running.”

— Carolyn Gerard, Owner of Gerard Strategic Branding + Marketing Communications (Chicago, Ill.) 

Funding through C2FO can be critical in uncertain times

“We’ve been using the C2FO platform to receive early invoice payments, as needed, from our largest corporate customers for the past couple of years. The program has been very beneficial for helping us meet our cash flow needs.  We are grateful to be able to access cash through C2FO when we need it — especially given the financial uncertainty created by the current coronavirus situation.” 

— Suji Park, CEO and owner of FDMR Inc. (Seattle, Wash.)

“C2FO’s services have been especially helpful during this crisis, when revenue uncertainty and market forces are unpredictable. When consumer demand is unpredictable, and waiting full terms on receivables is not ideal, C2FO has been invaluable, especially with the daily funding services.”

— Rhonda Sparks, CEO and owner of UV Skinz (Sonora, Calif.)

Early payment through C2FO benefits both suppliers and their customers

“When I first heard about C2FO, I did think it was too good to be true. But it made sense. These retailers have the cash to pay early and if they can save those incremental amounts over time, they’re saving a lot of money.” 

— Fouad Kallamni, Co-founder of Casablanca Foods (New York, NY) 

“One sentence that the C2FO Supplier Relationship Manager told me on the phone got stuck in my head in particular: ‘Philips wants you to have a strong company. It wants its partners to be strong and healthy.’ And that is really rare. Most of the other customers use us as a free loan facility. This way I am even more motivated to provide extra service and quality to Philips.”

— Zeljko Susljic, Owner of Little Shop of Translations (Antwerp, Belgium) 

Summing it up 

Over the past 10 years, C2FO has accelerated more than $110 billion in invoice payments to suppliers all over the world. Hundreds of thousands of companies have learned about the speed, ease, and versatility of the C2FO platform. C2FO’s suite of working capital solutions goes far beyond early payment, ensuring that your company, your customers and your own suppliers have greater control over working capital. 

And in times of economic uncertainty when trillions of dollars are tied up in accounts receivable, the ability to generate liquidity, debt-free, through C2FO is more essential than ever. 

Too good to be true? Maybe it’s more like “long overdue.”