Stopping Slow Payers in Their Tracks
Short of going over to your customer and handing them their check book so they can write you a check for payment on outstanding invoices, the most effective action you can take to keep customer payments coming in smoothly is to closely monitor progress and communicate with the customer as often as necessary to keep the check or checks coming in promptly. You might even look at this as a training process. You are literally training your customers to respect your selling terms.
At the first sign of slowness, which will show up on your aging sheet, communicate promptly in writing. At this stage, the letter is just a gentle reminder. It is important to keep good customer relations. After all, the customer may have just simply forgotten to make the payment.
The next communication may be just as polite but should be done by phone. It seems there are quite a few ways to communicate with customers these days but the two most effective ways to communicate are still two of the oldest: face to face contact and the telephone. Face to face contact is probably not practical or even possible with most of your customers (years ago in house bill collectors were common place. A lot of shoe leather was spent knocking on doors and collecting accounts). The telephone is a close second, however.
Avoiding Bad Habits and Broken Promises
Using a letter plus a very polite telephone call acts to keep an otherwise good paying customer in line. It also acts as a quick signal to you if a customer does not keep a commitment. For example, if you contact a customer on Tuesday and that customer indicates a check is in the mail to you that day, you may expect to have that check in your possession a few days later. If it doesn’t arrive, a follow up communication is necessary to see if some chance the check is lost in the mail but the odds are greater that the customer has simply broken his promise to you.
Watching for Fires and Putting Them Out Quickly
When it comes to collecting on invoices from customers, it is much better to be pro active than reactive. Simply put, you need to stay ahead of the game by spotting problem areas very promptly and following up with quick action. The following is a discussion of typical areas in customer relations in connection with the prompt payment of invoices.
Changes In Ownership of A client Business
A change in ownership of the customer can change bill paying habits dramatically. You may have had a great relationship with a customer for years which may have resulted in being lax on updating credit information such as information contained on the credit application, financial statements and other documentation. Upon making a call, you may discover that there are different voices on the phone and it can be revealed that new ownership took over. The name of the company remained the same so as to show some continuity of business. People like to deal with businesses that have been around for a while with little change.
Perhaps the most dramatic event which can occur on a change of ownership was refusal of the new owners to pay debts incurred by the prior owners. For example, if the change of ownership occurred in June last year, even though the name of the company remained the same, no changes were reported to you, an investigation may have to be initiated as to which invoices were actually sold to the prior owners, which invoices were sold to the current owners, and are the current owners liable for the debts of the prior owners.
Changes in ownership can significantly affect bill paying habits. Therefore, this is a key reason to periodically have your client submit a new credit application as the application itself defines the name of the business entity and who the owners are. Don’t count on your customer to be forth right in providing that information.
Changes of Address or Phone Number
Observing a change of address or phone number is significant. It may reflect new ownership. It may be a result of a conflict with the landlord (an eviction perhaps).
Two trends have become increasingly popular in terms of address and phone number. With regard to addresses, it is increasingly common for small and medium sized businesses to show a post office box as the address or, more disturbing, the address of a mail drop service (such as a UPS store) as the physical address of the company. It is much easier for a customer to become elusive if a physical address is not disclosed to you. If a customer uses a post office box or a mail drop address, your credit application or some other form should insist that a physical address also be disclosed.
A customer having the same phone number for a long period of time use to signify stability because phone numbers were tied in with addresses. Now, a phone number can receive a call and through modern technology that call can be forwarded anywhere in the world. Thus, a customer having the same phone number for a long period of time no longer signifies stability. You must keep tabs on the customer as to the physical address where the customer is located per the discussion above.
Enforcing Good Pay to Improve Your Cash Flow
Both a seller and a buyer are more comfortable with their relationship when goods and services are flowing smoothly and payments for those goods and services are being made promptly. You will find your customers do not object to close monitoring and eager follow up for prompt payment of invoices. Indeed, those customers who do find your close monitoring to be offensive, are customers you probably are going to have some trouble with down the road any way.
No comments:
Post a Comment