Top Tips for Businesses
We will help you be proactive in preventing bad debts accruing and minimise the disruption (and maximise the return) when they do.
More about our Top Tips for Businesses
Completely avoiding late payments is probably not realistic, but there are ways you can reduce it.
Here is our checklist for effective credit control:
Have a clear credit control procedure:
As soon as payment is late send a seven day demand for payment
Follow this up with a phone call, which will help to flush out any disputes or problems with the invoice
As soon as your set credit control period has ended pass the debt over for legal action, do not delay
Know your customer and obtain as much information about them as possible at the outset:
Who exactly are you contracting with? A sole trader, a limited company or a partnership? Simply having the name of the business e.g. the shop name or restaurant name is not enough. You need to know who owns the business.
Credit check customers where possible
Have clear terms and conditions
Ensure that your payment terms are set out in your terms and conditions
Have a signed order form or agreement on record
It can be tricky dealing with late payments whilst maintaining a good relationship with your customers or client. One way to depersonalise the collection process is by instructing a solicitor led debt recovery service such as Forbes Collect.
Inform debtors that the decision to take legal action is not personal and is out of your hands. It is sometimes a requirement of insurance that legal action is taken to recover unpaid invoices after 30 days.
In most cases this won't do any damage to your business relationship; however, if late payments persist, it might be worth thinking about whether you actually want them as a customer.
It can be tricky dealing with late payments whilst maintaining a good relationship with your customers or client. One way to depersonalise the collection process is by instructing a solicitor led debt recovery service such as Forbes Collect.
Inform debtors that the decision to take legal action is not personal and is out of your hands. It is sometimes a requirement of insurance that legal action is taken to recover unpaid invoices after 30 days.
In most cases this won't do any damage to your business relationship; however, if late payments persist, it might be worth thinking about whether you actually want them as a customer.
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