Do you have past-due credit accounts that you’ve tried everything to collect on? Perhaps you’ve given debtors reminders, warnings, written demands, calls, and maybe event in-person visits — but you still aren’t getting any responses. To get the most out of your overdue accounts, you’ve likely exhausted all your options. The next logical plan of attack is to hire professional help, but many business owners don’t want to take that step because it means admitting they can’t do it on their own.
Signs it’s time
If you’ve noticed these trends, it may be time to consider adding another player to your team:1
- No Response – If you’ve tried multiple ways to contact the debtor to no avail, it’s likely you’ll never hear back. In this case, time is money. The sooner you take steps to resolve the issue, the more likely your debtor will pay your business.
- Angry Customer – If you find yourself with a debtor who is angry and making unfounded and damaging attacks, know these types of people are better left to a third-party partner.
- Failed Terms – If your debtor pays when and how much he or she wants to, it’s better to leave handling them to a professional who will work hard to ensure the debtor meets the debt terms.
- Lack of Responsibility – Often, for one reason or another, debtors will not claim responsibility for the debt. Without the help of a collections professional, it is nearly impossible to redeem payment.
Although you may hesitate sharing overdue account information with a collection agency, the fact is your customer has already stopped responding to you or is being unruly to work with, so you’re not likely to recover that money unless you take further action. If you have several unresponsive customers with outstanding payments, experts with a collections agency may actually help increase your profits — not decrease them.
Benefits
When it comes to overdue accounts, your time and money are valuable. It is imperative to collect as soon as you can because the longer an account is outstanding, the less likely your business will be paid. With a professional credit expert on your team, you will likely spend much less time on collections, which gives you more time to focus on your business. You and your accounting team members’ time is better spent. Furthermore, working with professional credit agency experts helps ensure you properly adhere to legalities surrounding debt collection.
When it’s time to work with a full-service credit management partner, you can increase your business success in collecting payments and also receive personalized customer service, open communication and knowledge transfer, and a true partnership with a one-stop shop for all things credit related. You’ll get help with everything from credit decisions and collections to credit management and education. Plus, you’ll be able to mitigate your overdue account risk early and rest assured that your partner is meeting your business credit needs. Other benefits include:2
- Additional Tools – Professional debt collectors often have additional tools to collect payment that may not be in your wheelhouse or at your disposal.
- Collect Payment – If a bill is more than 30 days past-due, professional debt collectors are more successful in recovering payment than business employees working alone.
- Ease of Mind – By hiring a professional, you can stop worrying and stressing over missing payments.
When you’re ready to collect on your past-due payments and put your best foot forward on your path to well-managed business credit, you know it’s time to call in the professionals. But don’t dive in too fast! Take the time you need to find the right partner to meet your needs and exceed your expectations.
2 Kearns, Suzanne. “The Pros and Cons of Using Debt Collectors.” Intuit QuickBooks. Accessed June 29, 2017. Source.