Delays in receiving payments can be detrimental for your company’s finances. They halt your cash flows, keep you from making payments and hinder your ability to make investments into your business.

Therefore, it is imperative to ensure your receivables make their payments on time.

Here are some quick tips that would help you improve your debt collection procedures and avoid bottlenecks in your stream of payments.

Written Payment Terms and Conditions

Setting out a written payment policy ensures that the company has something to fall back on in case your clients start to make excuses about lack of clarity. It is imperative that you set out the terms and conditions to your clients clearly to keep them aware of your expectations and the penalties which incur upon failure to meet these expectations.

When your company’s terms and conditions regarding payment procedures are written down, you can bring it up as evidence if there is a dispute or misunderstanding with the client.

It helps maintain a clear approach regarding your business’s policies, and the clients know exactly what is expected of them, so they can make their payments as and when required.

Investigate Your Clients

Before you facilitate your clients’ credit payments, do your research diligently and assess their risk profiles and creditworthiness.

This is especially important for long-term recurring customers with larger transactions, as it helps you evaluate how much you need to tighten the credit policy for them. For clients who might not be as credit worthy with lower credit scores on their records, implement more stringent credit policies, or try to deal with them on advance or immediate payment basis.

This step helps you maintain a certain level of expectation of payments from your clients.

Contact Your Client

Don’t put off contacting your client until they are months overdue on their payments. It is possible that they might have forgotten; give them that benefit of the doubt and send out regular, polite reminders to meet your payments.

Effective and friendly communication is very likely to motivate them to make their payments on time.

Efficient Software

Invest in professional, efficient software and database to manage your account receivables. This will help you keep track of when your clients are overdue on their payments, the likelihood of them defaulting, when they turn into bad debts that need to be written off.

Follow-up

If your receivables are still delaying their payments, you need to start some follow-up action right away. Send out a monthly statement as a reminder of the amount that they owe. Make sure they are also made aware of the penalty payments they have to pay now that they’re late on making their payments.

 

Additionally, send your receivables follow-up letters which need to be composed with a strong and firm tone conveying that you actually mean business. Let them know of the measures you will take if they default, like outsourcing their accounts to debt collection agencies, which will lower their credit scores, hurting them in the long run.

Let Partners In Credit Take Care of Your Debt Recovery

No matter what you do, there will always be some customers who refuse to pay on time. Don’t worry; you can outsource those stubborn accounts to your Partners In Credit. With over two decades of experience, we are experts at recovering outstanding debt though numerous strategies which are sure to work. For more information, email us at info@partnersincredit.com or call 1-888-730-6333.