The size of your business doesn't matter when it comes to unpaid invoices. It's inconvenient and creates a slippery slope, primarily when handled correctly. A strategy is essential when collecting these invoices. Also, the question is critical when collecting these invoices, how can you get unpaid invoices paid without risking the customer's relationship.
Here are the top tips debt recovery services need to consider when dealing with overdue invoices for businesses.
Email reminders
People are busy and on the go; email is something we all have access to from mobile devices. Debt collection services can send email reminders about unpaid invoices, including details of past due and breakdown of the invoice amount and late fees and interest. It's best to set the system up for automatic reminders after 30 days as gentle reminders. Besides, these reminders help ensure payments are timely.
Advance payment
Advance payment isn't unusual for businesses today, especially when they're going to be out of money upfront to fulfill the order. Also, you can demand a percentage of the total payment upfront.
Prepayment assures that overdue invoices are a thing of the past. In addition, the advance payments and credits are straightforward to manage with the online invoicing portal's credit management features.
Keep things positive
As a business holder, you must keep a confident and positive attitude when dealing with the client. Letting them know you are concerned about the payment isn't going to help. You must ensure that they can't give any reason for a longer delay in payment. It's more about keeping a confident tone with the client about getting paid.
Monthly statement
You can send monthly statements to clients with unpaid invoices. Monthly statements ensure that clients see the open invoices with the original date, amount, and late fees and interest.
Follow up with a phone call
In order to keep a positive relationship with your clients, debt collection services make a follow-up phone call after ten days if you haven't researched you. A friendly follow-up chat can explain why they have yet to pay the invoice and reaffirm that the matter is a priority.
Know about escalation
You must keep in mind that not all clients are alike. Every client runs their business differently. You need to make payments on a different schedule; knowing this gives you the knowledge on how to handle past due invoices. Clients pay invoices at other times. They may spend 30 days from the date of invoice, every 30 days by calendar date, and some pay invoices every 45 days.
If you know their schedule for paying invoices, it's best to send a reminder five days ahead of their plan. Knowing your clients better can eliminate unnecessary pressure on your clients and not strain your relationship. However, if they are continuously late with payments, you may need to adopt a more conscientious strategy.
Refer to your staff
When your routine invoicing, statements, payment follow-ups, and reminders aren't working, the debt recovery agency can delegate the task to the account manager. Keeping an account current is essential to the company representative as it is the company itself. Also, having them contact the client may be a smoother contact.
Charge interest on overdue invoices
When a client is consistently late paying invoices, it's essential to charge late fees. Interest can be an eye-opener for most consumers, especially when the past due invoice is about to turn into a legal matter. It's best to consider your relationship when dealing with a client, especially when pursuing collection.
Conclusion
Past due invoices can be daunting. First, however, you must ensure the collection agency has a seasoned agent assigned to the account.
