When several demands land at once, the loudest is not always the most important. A calm triage protects the company far better than reacting to whoever shouts.
Rank by consequence
Ask what genuinely happens if each debt goes unpaid for a short while. Wages, tax, premises and essential suppliers carry the sharpest consequences, so they rank highest — regardless of who is chasing hardest.
Buy time on the rest
For lower-consequence debts, a short call proposing a plan usually buys the time you need. Creditors, including us, generally prefer an early, specific proposal to silence.
Do not let volume drive you
A supplier sending three emails a day is not necessarily more important than a quiet tax deadline. Judge by impact, not by noise.
Free advisers can help you triage — Business Debtline gives free, confidential debt advice to small businesses and the self-employed at businessdebtline.org or on 0800 197 6026.
We lend only to UK limited companies and LLPs, and the loan is to the company with no director personal guarantee. As business finance outside the consumer-credit regime, it is not covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service or FSCS.
See also: How to prioritise which bills to pay first, Which debts should a struggling company pay first?, The first seven days of a cash-flow crisis.