How do you recover an invoice without offending your customer?
It is important for your company that your customers pay as soon as they are invoiced. You need this income to pay your costs and grow your business. At the same time, you need to build and maintain healthy customer relationships, because losing good customers also has a negative impact on your business. A healthy customer relationship ensures a healthy source of income. But what do you do if a good customer does not pay, or pays very late? How can you collect an unpaid invoice without damaging your customer relationship? Here are some tips from our experience!
How to ensure a good customer relationship
1. Put yourself in the shoes of your debtor
Try to find out why your client is not paying. Maybe they have an acceptable reason. Once you know what it is, you can take a stand and react in a way that will secure your relationship with them.
Make sure you don't waste weeks getting to the bottom of a problem like this. One phone call to your client can work wonders. Not sure how to best approach such a telephone call? We have a series of handy tips for that, too.
2. Make it personal
Many companies send their first reminder via e-mail or post. There is nothing wrong with that, but such messages often end up in the customer's e-mail bin or wastebasket.
A personal approach, such as calling or visiting, has the advantage that you can uncover the source of the problem more quickly. Ask, in a friendly way, why the customer has not paid, then seek out the best solution together, such as an instalment plan.
Make sure that your customer clearly confirms the agreements made in writing.
3. Get to know your customer
This starts as soon as you enter into a cooperation with a new customer. The better you know your customer, the more targeted the way you can work with them when an invoice remains outstanding. Understanding your customer ensures that you can react in a way that is tailored to them. When you adjust your behaviour, you will achieve the desired result faster.
For example, we recommend that the person in your company who has already built up a relationship with a defaulter should approach them.
Is the payment still not forthcoming?
The longer a payment is delayed, the greater the chance that you will never receive your money. Time is a crucial factor in keeping your cash flow healthy.
Have friendly questions and persistent insistence not worked? Then take legal action. At that point, for example, it is no longer useful to have a collection agency send more letters. You have addressed your client sufficiently about the unpaid invoice.
If it concerns an undisputed invoice, Unpaid will collect it for you quickly and efficiently, without the intervention of a judge or lawyer. Within five days of submitting a file to us, we will send a bailiff to your debtor anywhere in Belgium.
Do you have unpaid invoices? Are you tired of waiting?
Would you like some more information first? Feel free to call us on +329/396.34.00 or schedule a video meeting when it suits you best.