Small businesses need to rethink debt collection strategies
Monday, July 26th, 2010 by SKThere can be no doubt that the economic downturn has brought problems to businesses of all sizes, reduced market confidence, as more people out of jobs means they’re not buying things. The government bailed out the banks, but then the banks are reluctant to help businesses.
So, when a small company is left waiting for an account to be cleared, they will no doubt get in touch with the large company concerned and try and learn what is happening. If the response is that they have made an error and will pay the account straight away then that is it, job done. However if that is not the response then the small company might think that the large company is using it as a free credit company! This may make them think about debt collection and if they have undertaken this in the past, maybe using solicitors or debt collection companies. They may feel that they cannot afford either of these choices in the current economic downturn.
In looking for a less costly alternative they should come across software, which puts the job of debt collection into their hands, so as a quid pro quo for not paying much money, they need to put in some work to make the debt collection process succeed. Even if this is the single bad debt that the small company has had, debt collection software will still be a viable choice since they may never need to go to solicitors or debt collection companies at all.
The debt collection strategy requires that the small company allocate adequate resources, particularly the members of staff who are to run the software and write the debt collection letters. The debt collection letters are important for not only do they form the heart of the debt collection process but they will be sent to the large company and so will present the small company in a different light. The debt collection software suite should be chosen carefully so that the small company gets good documentation that explain the debt collection process in detail, perhaps by taking them through a sample debt. For debt collection letters the members of staff will need help on how to write them, what methods they can use that may speed the debt collection process to a successful conclusion. Further assistance may come from the addition of templates which the members of staff can use as a starting point for actual debt collection letters without inadvertently changing the template. There should be details on how to maintain the templates, maybe to add the small company details or logo or colour scheme so that these are available for new letters. There ought to be templates relating to each level of the debt collection process so that as the software moves the members of staff through the different steps of the process, then the relevant template should be presented.
Finally the software should be able to log activity, for example if it allows a debt to be registered there ought to then be the facility to log all activity related to that debt. The logic behind this is that if the debt cannot be cleared by the debt collection letters and the only option is court, then the court officers will need to see evidence of the work the small company has done in the debt collection process so far and the database aspect provides this.
So the small company should have been able to get the large company to pay the outstanding account and still have maintained the working relationship and will, hopefully get projects from them in the future.
Follow these links for more information: Debt Collection, Debt Collection Software, Debt Collection Letters