The other day I was having my lunch at a restaurant in town and something caught my eye. As I went to pay for what I had just dispatched off to the digestion chamber, I noticed that not everyone was handing in cash for what they had eaten. I noticed a well dressed gentleman signing on a sheet of paper; he was followed by about three others who signed on the same paper. I tried to see what was on the paper and found that it was for some staff members of a certain telecom company. They eat food at the restaurant daily and sign to acknowledge having eaten. Then the company pays the restaurant for all the meals eaten. When I thought about it a little more, I realised that it was a scheme that made life easy for both parties. The telecom employees have a convenient arrangement that sees them worrying less about the money for meals while the owner of the restaurant can bank on a big client to keep the business going strong. Businesses in a competitive environment should think of different ways through which customers can pay for services and products. Increased options will certainly result in more revenue since those who may have chosen to work with another company due to the rigidity of the payment options will have no reason to switch. Depending on the type of business and the clientele it attracts or it hopes to attract, there are several ways of accepting money that could result in more revenue for the company. For example, a hotel could accept cash from the customers but also allow others to pay using credit cards from companies like Visa and MasterCard. More importantly, the mobile money revolution that has allowed people to bank money on their mobile phones has gradually moved from just being a way of sending money from one person to another to an efficient way of making payments for many different things. Utility companies for instance should embrace mobile money payments and other payments like monthly deductions from one’s bank account in order to save many lazy clients from physically having to move and hand over the money while at the same time spending hours in queues. Other businesses make a lot of money by partnering with banks to offer certain expensive products as loans or mortgages. A furniture company may supply household items and then have the money deducted monthly from one’s account for about a year. What customers and business owners should be taught is that holding onto cash is not an end itself; however it is important if that same money can move from one person to another in several easy ways. Businesses should spend time thinking of how to make payment for goods and services a very simple experience. People are known to spend more where ease is involved. For example it is much easier to swipe a credit card for a huge payment than witnessing several cash bills moving from your hand to another person’s hand. And so it is imperative on the businesses to widen the options as they in turn widen their revenues. As long as at the end of the day, one’s books are balancing and profits are being made a business will survive and grow.