Ideas on getting customers to pay on time.?

Question

I work for a small company and we are having problems collecting bills. We have a large amount of money that is outstanding. The president wants us to start calling people 15 days after they have received service to make sure that they are going to pay and then every week after that until they pay.

I don't know if that is a good idea but I don't have any better ideas.

What do you do for your business or what are your suggestions?

Answer 1

Tell them if they don't pay up you're going to send them to a collections agency. If that happens, it will hurt their credit and they'll be forced to pay up. I would totally check with boss man before doing that though.

Answer 2

Depending on the type of service or product that is sold will help determine the proper length of time before collection begins... I would say....15 to 30 days...I do own a business but it's pay at the time of svc, type..I would suggest perhaps a signed contract or a deposit be taken before work is started. This way you can either go to court to settle the bill if necessary or you have a deposit so the business doens't walk away empty handed. As harsh as calling then weekly sounds, I don't think it is a bad idea... short of sending John Gotti Out there! :) HAHA Kidding! Also letters should be mailed (return reciept requested) so that both your employer and the customer has a copy of the BILL and that will also hold water in court. Esp if these $$ amounts are over 1,000. The beauty of return reciept req is that the person whom the bill (letter) is mailed to must sign that they have recieved it. This may also be an option...Otherwise perhaps the small business should have a written contract before work is done that clearly states the payment policy. Persistance is key. Finding someone to do the collection work who is friendly, yet firm and is quite the bottom line type. Otherwise, this small business will be filing for chapter 11 or spending a great deal of time in small claims court!
GOOD LUCK!!!!!! Hope this help!!!! I need the points!

Answer 3

You could offer incentives if they pay a certain amount after receiving the invoice. For example, if you pay by x date you can get 10% off your next order. Then, you also create a repeat sale. If you have clients that repeatedly don't pay on time, you probably need to put them on COD so they have to pay when the product arrives. Calls are good too because people eventually get tired of hearing you ask for money. You might have a quicker response if you sweeten the deal with something like I already stated. When you call, tell the customer that you noticed their bill was outstanding and wanted to let them know that if they pay by a certain time, you will send them something (coupon, pen, stress ball, etc.) as a thank you for clearing up their bill. Free stuff interests people. Of course, items cost money but discounts aren't so much and still help.

You can also tell them that you'll charge interest if they don't pay by a certain time. That's a negative incentive but might work too. I think you might have to have that on the invoice though. You'd have to check with your legal department.

Good luck.

Answer 4

Chrisy, I sympathetically agree with you and this is how I would make sure I'd receive payment on time for each clientel. I would up the anty. I would make it a prison sentence if the guy signed on the dotted line in this contract, and to prove my point, I would utilize the deterent factor which, when anybody didn't pay on time, even a second over the dead line, I would show the customer the contract with the clause, "IF YOU ARE A SECOND OVER THE AGREED PAYMENT INSTALLMENT PLAN YOU WILL BE IN A FIX OF HOT WATER, BEING, P-R-I-S-O-N. I know, because I've seriously and no joking been to prison for a long time, long enough to know the pro's and con's of the do's and don'ts of a contract, signing it and not meeting up to its agreements, then, heres the key:
whoever does not pay on time, that is his fault and that is because he put himself in that position, plus, the reason a lot of people don't pay on time is because they know they can get away with it, but hold on!!!!! If you're going to do business with someone, ANYONE, you go by his credit rating, the longer that persons rating credit is clean, the more of an assurrance you will get in receiving the money on time. I rest my case!!!!!!!!!!!!NEXT QUESTION.

Answer 5

It depends on what service you are selling?
Obviously if your approach depends on the service.

But see about calling and giving the customer a friendly reminder (HI, sorry to disturb you, you are just a great customer and we didnt get your payment this month and we were sure that is was an oversite so we pulled your file out of collections and wanted to give you a call as we know how hard it is to maintian good credit these days,...)

again that is if the service requires REPEAT customers.
If it is just a one time shot,
(window installation or something of the like) have an attorney on retainer ($150 or so a month) to draft a letter (he only has todo this one time and leave the top blank) that says PAYMENT not recieved in 30 days will have the cost of collections added to the balance

Answer 6

Give 1% of the payment as compensation. This is the most tax collectors do. If not pay on time, instead get the interest as well as the penalty.

Answer 7

Refer all your outstaning bills to a collections agency they will collect the money or reequire payment upon service

Answer 8

Offer them an incentive like a 5% discount if they pay COD. Or start including late fees and hold your ground.

Answer 9

Go find yourself a pleasant but very large door-2door collections fellow! Named Guido!!

Answer 10

In my business I always make the customers pay in advance.