Collection of a debt – getting your customers to pay!

Collection of a debt – how to win over your customers and get them to pay!

Here’s a few rules when considering how your collection of a debt will be most successful, in tough economical times, getting your customers to pay you is more of a science than an art:

1) Keep talking – constant dialogue between you and your customers is important for collection of a debt because you are always on your customers mind, even if their next invoice is not due for another week, put in a courtesy call to make sure there are no issues BEFORE the invoice becomes overdue.

2) Invoice quickly – you cannot perform a collection of a debt until your customers payment terms have run, and so it’s crucial your invoicing is up to date and issued on the day of the sale, preferably emailed PDF so you have a trail of who you sent it to, and there can be no “lost copies”. Invoicing quicker means you get paid quicker.

3) Use your resources – if you have a problem and collection of a debt is an issue, meet with your sales team and get them involved in the collection of a debt. This was their sale after all, they should take responsibility – a sale is not a sale until the money is in the bank.

4) Speak to a professional – seek out a solicitor or collection agency for professional advice. These experts usually provide a free consultation and assess your chances of a succesful collection of a debt, some will not charge you a penny until the collection of a debt has been made – so a great way to do business, free up your time to get more sales and keeping your cash-flow healthy.

This is just a brief snippet of how the burden of collection of a debt can be eased when you implement just a few procedures in your business and take time to understand that collection processes do not always have to be long drawn out affairs.

Remember your cash-flow is king, and it is imperative to your businesses survival to keep on top of your collections. Debt collection keeps you in business!