The problems of late payments and the need for debt recovery services are becoming an increasing issue for SMEs in England and Wales. Cash flow is vital for business growth and this can be hampered when invoices go unpaid.
How can your business get its debts paid on time and with minimum stress?
Here are our top tips for stress free debt recovery services and how a professional debt collection agency can be an asset to your business.
Keep your finance documents up to date
One of the most important elements for stress free debt recovery services is to ensure you have the right documentation. This includes filing emails, invoices and other correspondence, as well as keeping accurate records of phone calls or texts.
This will provide evidence that you are owed the money, that the debtor acknowledges that they owe the funds and that you’ve maintained contact to chase up the unpaid invoices. Accurate and up to date records will be useful if you employ a third-party debt collection agency, as they will be able to quickly pick up the case.
Debt recovery software
Now that many businesses are using software to manage their accounts and cash flow, this can save time when it comes to collecting late payments. The process of chasing up unpaid invoices can become automated, so that when an invoice becomes overdue a statement or reminder is emailed to the client.
This reduces the time small businesses spend on managing their cash flow. However, it is important that digital records are kept up to date. Otherwise you could be chasing invoices that have already been paid.
Have a plan
With any small business debt recovery case you need to have a plan in place for how to deal with the situation. This could include how you’re going to chase the debt, any payment arrangements you’re willing to accept or how long you expect the whole process to last.
Recovering debts and chasing up unpaid invoices internally can be extremely time consuming. The use of a debt collection agency can save you valuable time and is often a good way of encouraging a debtor to pay. For a small business, taking the stress out of debt recovery enables you to concentrate on running and growing the business.
Check your terms
Before starting any business debt recovery, the first step should always be to check your contracts or terms and conditions. This will ensure you know where you stand in the situation, such as how long the payment terms are, any interest you’re entitled to claim and what happens if the debt remains outstanding.
If there are any problems or issues that appear, you can then consider these and implement any changes in the future to avoid the situation arising again.
Keep your patience
Carrying out debt recovery services yourself can be an extremely stressful period. However, it’s essential to remain patient and calm with your debtors, even if you’re feeling extremely angry about the situation.
Instead, you need to focus on getting the debt paid quickly. When you’re speaking with or writing to the debtor, you should remain professional and use authoritative language. Setting out the magnitude of the situation and how you want it resolving in a simple form will avoid the situation escalating.
The benefit of an external debt collection agency is that they can remain emotionless about the issue, which often gets the debt paid sooner. They can also help to protect the relationship you have built up with the client, by not having any personal element to the conversation.
Don’t delay in acting
One of the problems with small business debt recovery is that it can often be left till the last minute. Acting as soon as possible to collect your late payments is more likely to result in a successful outcome.
By spending too long trying to collect the debt internally can mean the time to recover it successfully has been missed. In the meantime, the company might have built up a number of debts with other businesses which have been chased quicker or they could even have gone out of business. Instructing one of the best debt collection agencies as soon as possible will improve the chances of recovering the debt.
Local debt recovery services
At CEA Limited, we have a team of local debt recovery experts who will work quickly to get your debts recovered. We can take away the stress involved with managing your debt collection and make the whole process smoother.
To speak to us about your local debt recovery needs, simply call us on 0113 532 8350 or email office@cealimited.co.uk.
More information
How to collect unpaid invoices from customers