Whatever
the type of business, be it large or small, with a single employee or hundreds
of staff, all are susceptible to that financial plague known as bad debt.
It is a well-known fact that a business is only as strong as
its customers. If those customers are not reliable when it comes to the payment
of due bills, then without an effective system in place to recover the
outstanding debt and maintain adequate cash flow, the business will head down
the slippery slope to oblivion. Debt collection with the help of debt collectors
is a necessary aspect of every company.
Most
people at one time or another either forget or misplace an outstanding bill. A
simple, polite, written reminder or telephone call is normally sufficient to
nudge this type of debtor to settle their account and inevitably, immediate
payment will follow.
Next
are the customers who become slightly overextended and will take a week or so
over the normal 30-day credit period to settle their account. Finally we have
what may be termed the serial debtor. This is a customer who, having received
the goods or services from the business, just either cannot afford to settle
the debt or indeed has no intention to do so.
If a
business carries out its own debt collection, it must remove staff from
their existing jobs so they may be deployed chasing up the outstanding debts,
unless of course, additional staff are specifically employed to carry out this
function. In either event, it is not really cost-effective for the business to
do this, since the first option would mean existing staff are unable to
undertake the jobs for which they were originally employed, whilst the second
option, will place additional expenses on the business.
Debt
collection can be very challenging and involves a lot more than just issuing a
few letters to wayward debtors. If handled incorrectly, the business could lose
not only money but valued customers and credibility and, in extreme instances,
could find itself at loggerheads with the law.
Outstanding
debtors curtail business profits, restrict growth and more important, reduce
cash flow available for business development.
Debt
collection companies can reduce both the costs and risks involved with the
process of recovering outstanding debts. A professional debt collection company
has the experience necessary to issue non-threatening yet persuasive letters,
which encourage the majority of debtors to settle their outstanding accounts in
a time frame more acceptable to the business.
A
professional debt collection company will aid any business to increase cash flow,
and retain good customer relations, whilst at the same time, freeing up its own
staff and resources to take the business forward.
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