In the last couple of weeks, I’ve had conversations with several clients about what to do with customers who don’t pay their bills either on time or at all. No one likes doing all the work and not getting paid. In small business, keeping a good cash flow is absolutely critical. If you have significant funds tied up in your accounts receivables, you have less working capital to fund the business, more stress, sleepless nights and less time to do the good stuff. And the longer debts remain outstanding, the harder they are to collect. So, what can you do to stay on top of your debtors, maximise your cash reserves and minimise the risk of not getting paid.
First up the (hopefully) obvious – email your invoices. But, make sure the email address is not a generic administration address, but a specific one that handles accounts. If you’re using software like MYOB or Xero, then its really easy because the system automatically sends it to as many email addresses as you need. You can also see when an invoice has been viewed.
Be sure your invoice includes your bank details in a prominent location together with your payment terms. Because invoices are being emailed and payment is coming by EFT, payment within 7 days is standard. In many instances, terms will be “payment due on receipt”. Assess the costs and benefits of offering an option to make payment by credit card.
Establish sound credit policies including an application process if you anticipate that a customer is going to be incurring regular charges. This might mean approving a maximum amount that they can have outstanding at one time; requiring directors of small Pty Ltd companies to provide a personal guarantee for the account; and undertaking credit checks prior to establishing an account. Provide the customer with a document that outlines your credit policy including limits, payment terms and debt recovery options such as charging interest on overdue amounts.
Review debtors regularly – at least weekly. Send statements at the end of each month for customers who haven’t paid by the due date. This prompts customers to query any missing invoices or dispute any amounts early.
Identify customers who still haven’t paid after a statement and pick up the telephone to engage with them. Identify why payment hasn’t been made and get a commitment of when the account will be settled. If necessary, negotiate a payment schedule. Alternatively, have a standard friendly follow up email to chase customers and ask for a response to make sure that the email has been received.
Maintain a record of when emails or phone calls have been made. This should include the customers responses.
If the friendly response isn’t working consider escalating – including final notice letters and letters of demand. Remember that once you start going down this path, you must consider the affect on your ongoing relationship with the client. If it’s an important customer, you may need to tread more carefully. This is also the stage where you can begin to impose late interest charges.
As a final resort, consider getting a legal representative to draft a letter of demand. This should state how much is owed, and when it must be paid by and possibly a warning that legal action will be taken. If this still doesn’t result in payment, you may need to engage a debt collection services or starting action through your relevant state fair trading laws.
The bottom line is, you should avoid getting this far by having good policies and procedures in place to identify potential problems. There’s no point in generating sales if you don’t also prioritise getting paid on time. Once you head down any legal path, it tends to get expensive in both engaging professionals and your own time. It also will usually irretrievably damage the relationship with your customer.
If you would like to improve your cash flow and focus on growing your business rather than collecting debts, I’m more than happy to chat with you and offer a FREE 30 minute initial consultation. You can easily book online here and I look forward to helping you sort your finances!