Chapter 20
Ten Tricks for Collecting Money
In This Chapter
Know and love your credit policy
Chase money without delay
Get on the phone and let those debtors know you care
Track every call made, every promise received
Follow through on your threats
One of the trickier jobs that often falls to a bookkeeper is chasing money from overdue accounts. If you don’t have an outgoing personality or you’re not naturally an assertive person, then the process of phoning people up and demanding money can feel like something akin to torture.
This reticence quickly turns into a negative cycle, because the longer you leave a debt before you chase it, the more likely it is that the debtor won’t pay. The secret to getting paid is to have clear credit terms and make contact with customers the moment they go beyond these.
I can’t cure any innate shyness you may have, but in this chapter I do provide a lot of tricks about how to chase money. Good luck!
Draw Up a Credit Policy
If you’re charged with chasing money from customers, then you want to have a set of rules that outlines the deal for any customer who receives credit. This document is called a credit policy, and, if such a policy doesn’t yet exist, it may be your job to draft one.
The kinds of things that go in a credit policy depend on the business, but usually include
What’s the fine print on the credit application? All customers who receive credit must complete a credit application. Make sure this application includes full contact details ...
