Tweaks to the billing process are one of the key things that can benefit businesses exponentially. The process itself can be set up to do a lot of the heavy lifting, working like clockwork to help your customers pay on time.
Here are a few things our resolution team has shared to help you politely but firmly encourage customers to pay on time.
Think about the written documents in your customer process, and ensure your payment policies are clear and upfront, repeatedly throughout your quotes, emails, and invoices.
Invoice your customers straight away, so that they can pay you.
Offer a diverse range of payment methods to help your customers pay you sooner, simply by making it easy, their way.
Stick to your late payment terms and ensure every customer who doesn’t pay on time receives regular reminders, which lays out what will happen if they continue to miss the payment.
The following steps assume that you run 30-day net accounts with invoices sent on delivery and a statement sent at the end of the month. You can tailor the time scales accordingly to meet your business requirements.
Client orders goods on the 15th of month one and an invoice is sent
A statement is sent on the 30th of month one with an outstanding balance.
Payment has not been received by the 30th of month two – the account is now overdue.
Between the 5th and 10th of month three, you contact your client to qualify why the account has not been paid – remember the account is overdue and costing you money.
If payment has not been received by the 15th of month three send a further statement with an overdue notice stamp and payment due by the 20th of month three. You should also send a copy of your Terms and Conditions of Trade highlighting what happens in the event of default.
If payment has not been received by the 20th of month three send a final notice advising that the debt will be placed in the hands of EC Credit Control.
If payment has not been received by the 30th of month three send the account to EC Credit Control for resolution.
Debt resolution is the very core of our business and we work with corporate entities and small to medium-sized businesses to recover unpaid accounts.
There are many advantages of making EC Credit Control part of your 7-step billing workflow.
You can focus on your day-to-day business.
You can rest easy knowing your customers are in good hands.
You can continue to maintain healthy trading relationships.
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EC Credit Control (NZ) Ltd
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