Being proactive with your accounts receivables is a must

By Greg:

Is it me, or did this summer fly by?

I was blindsided the other day by my wife and daughter going school shopping.  I mean, already?  It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the summer goes by.  You can easily become overwhelmed by all the yardwork projects you haven’t started and all the fun family activities you talked about all winter but have not done yet.  Summer starts and you think you have all the time in the world to do these things.  Then, of course, reality sets in.

I have learned (that is, my wife has said to me a million times) that you must plan, or things will not get done.

For a business, it can be very easy to allow your past-due accounts to pile up.  Instead of being proactive about them, the business settles for addressing those issues “next month” or “next quarter.”  Before you know it, these accounts are no longer 90 days past due, and they are six months or more.  I get it.  These accounts don’t seem to be a top priority, and they can be awkward to deal with.  Unfortunately, though, putting off these accounts can lead to lost revenue and more stress.

To make sure that a business avoids getting overwhelmed by their slow pay/delinquent accounts, at American Profit Recovery, we recommend being proactive.  We encourage our clients to keep the lines of communication open between themselves and their customers once the debt is incurred.  However, if the customers do not respond, we recommend to them not to hesitate in submitting these accounts to collections at 90 days past due.

Submitting slow pay/delinquent accounts to collections is a good thing.  Doing so will prevent these accounts from going so delinquent that the customer will start to rationalize or justify why they don’t owe.  This will help keep incoming revenue consistent and have the added benefit of reinforcing to those customers that prompt payment is expected in the future.  Furthermore, it will prevent these businesses from having to spend their valuable time and energy on older accounts that will have piled up and are less likely to pay now.

Being busy and having a lot to do is a great thing.  It is especially rewarding when you accomplish all you set out to do.

Just make sure not to put things off to where the good things now become a burden.