How Not to Get Stiffed, Improving Your Collection Procedures

Some businesses have slow paying customers or past due balances because they didn't "train" their customers in the beginning.

It is important that your customers know your credit policy and/or terms of payment, BEFORE they become a customer. Reiteration of your credit policy, when payment is overdue, is a good step to take in trying to obtain payment. Always ask for payment when it is justly due.

You should never extend credit to a new customer without having them fill out a credit application and go through the credit approval policy. Once you extend credit, it is important to maintain accurate records on an accounts payment history.

Adhere to your collection policies no matter what. You cannot see the future or changing market conditions. Try to keep current with trade reports pertaining to specific companies and industries.

Change your collection letters frequently, you can make them stronger and more action oriented.

Discourage payments on account or changes in payment terms. To many payment plans or changed payment terms can impair your cash flow.

When you receive payments "on account" be sure to follow up right way with a letter or phone call thanking them for their payment and telling them what their new balance is and when to send it.

On large accounts call or send a reminder just a few days after terms if they get delinquent.

Ask to speak to a manager, or owner when making collection calls rather than speaking to a secretary or receptionist. Go right for the decision maker.

If a customer disputes the quality of merchandise, or service, price or delivery, you should attempt to resolve this right way. Insist they pay the portion of the bill that they are not disputing while you work out the disputed problem.

If all else has failed you may want to refer the account to an outside collection agency.

For more information on Improving your Collection Procedures or collecting more money faster order Become the Squeaky Wheel, a Credit & Collections Guide for Everyone, ISBN# 0-9706645-1-6 $29.99 available at www.michelledunn.com or www.amazon.com or your local bookstore.

Michelle Dunn has over 17 years experience in Credit and Debt collection. She is the founder and president of Never Dunn Publishing, LLC, is a writer, publisher, consultant and the Editorial Advisor for Eli Financial Debt Collection Compliance Alert Newsletter.

Michelle started M.A.D. Collection Agency in January 1998 and ran it successfully until she sold it in December 2004. She owns and runs Credit & Collections.com an online community for credit and business professionals. http://www.credit-and-collections.com

Michell e has been featured in Ladies Home Journal, PC World, Home Business Magazine, Home Business Journal, Entrepreneur, The Internet Web Source, Professional Collector, and in Home Based Business for Dummies, Shameless Marketing for Brazen Hussies, From the Home-Front The Simple guide to starting and Running a Home based business, she was a featured guest on (NPR) National Public Radio and has been in many newspapers nationwide. She has many published articles and 3 published books to add to her list of accomplishments.

---

What Every Employee Should Know About How to See Customers Problems from Their Creative Side

Customer Service is a blessing and a curse; a blessing to the customer and a curse to you, the employee. At least so it seems. Although as... Read More

Customer Satisfaction Is Your Business

Regardless of what business you are in - you are really in the business of satisfying customers. The degree of customer satisfaction you deliver determines the level... Read More

The Importance of Good Customer Service

Do you have good customer service? Even for your free giveaways?I have been thinking over the past couple of weeks why some WAHP's have trouble growing their... Read More

What To Do When Youve Blown It

It's bound to happen sooner or later ? yes, even to you and your business. Sometime or other, you will make a blunder that upsets a customer.... Read More

How to Win the Hearts of Your Customers and Friends

Those of us doing business over the internet have to become especially adept at our listening and speaking skills since we don't have the luxury of talking... Read More

Over Delivering Provides Big Results

Over promising is a problem only when you under deliver. There are a number of ways that you can overdeliver to your customers or prospects, and as... Read More

Businesses Need to Rehumanise

Big companies and corporations have lost the human touch. The question is, when will humanity catch on, or like robotic sheep will we do whatever the business... Read More

Develop Loyal Customers for a Lifetime ? part 2 (11 ? 20)

Traditional marketing strategies encourage business owners to continually grow their businesses by adding new customers. In today's competitive world of business, it is more important than ever... Read More

Your Actions Tell Your Clients How You Expect To Be Treated

There is a widely accepted principle of human behavior that goes something like this. "Your actions tell the world how you expect to be treated." Look all... Read More

Oil Change Customer from Hell or Hoax; You Decide

Evacuation, "E-Vac" Oil System for Oil ChangingHow do most mobile oil change companies remove the used motor oil from the crank case? Well they "Evacuate it" or... Read More

Customer Service: Stop Sabotaging Your Customer Relationships

If you've called for customer service recently you're familiar with this recorded message "This call may be recorded or monitored for quality purposes." I immediately think to... Read More

Whats For Lunch?

As an entrepreneur, I'm always intrigued by small businesses, home-based or not, that exceed the expectations of their customers in a big way.Let me tell you about... Read More

You Bever Know Who Youre Serving

You Never Know Who You're Serving when customers turn irate.I think of myself as a reasonable person. It takes a lot to upset me, but upset I... Read More

Automating Your Customer Support

My regular readers will know that one of the things I highly recommend doing with any online business is automating as many of your day to day... Read More

Making Customer Satisfaction Surveys Work

Why bother? Good customer service is the life blood of any business. Although new customers are important good customer service will help generate customer loyalty and repeat... Read More

Customer First Customer Service

The world of customer service is rapidly changing. Thirty years ago, telephones and mail services were the norm for most companies. Now, faxes, email and web sites... Read More

Whats The Customer Service Buzz About Your Business?

If you're a regular reader of my column you know that my number one pet peeve is bad customer service. Nothing chaps my backside more than paying... Read More

Establishing Yourself as an Expert in the Eyes of Your Customers

The most important aspect of a successful business is developing the correct mindset toward your customers. And this is not the over used phrase The customer is... Read More

The Art of Giving Great Service

Sales is tough to get right, and depends on retaining those customers, yet people do it badly and unprofessionally all the time. It's really not difficult to... Read More

Developing A Customer Complaint System

Background The company was experiencing an increase in the number of customer complaints and an increase in the cost of processing them and we were hired to... Read More

Why Communication Skills Dont Work In Customer Service

Every time my firm conducts communication skills training, we know someone is going to object."That doesn't work. Everybody's heard of active listening. You can't use that stuff... Read More

The Nine Principles of Customer Service for the Travel Industry©

If you want to learn how to get your clients to do your selling for you through excpetional customer service, read on. Learn customer service secrets from... Read More

E-Business?s Best Friend: eCRM

From Ebay to the smallest home-operated start-up, e-businesses of all sizes struggle to accurately answer a common question: who are my customers? If you can't answer that... Read More

Improving Customer Service

Improving customer service starts at the top - with us owners and managers. We need to be living pictures of how we want our staff to treat... Read More

Customer Service and Marketing that Works

Go into many businesses today and try and get service, its sometimes impossible! The customer service officer is on the phone talking about personal issues, there is... Read More

My Child Has Opie Eye!

7:00 a.m., the silence in the house is broken by my child's call to me, from another room, "Mom, please take care of my Opie eye!"Huh?... My... Read More