How to rediscover the time you’d forgotten you had

03/04/2017

Timing is everything when it comes to credit control. Whether it’s sending invoices punctually, making courtesy calls at the opportune moment or knowing when to take firm action, timing plays a crucial role in a credit controller’s ability to do a good job.

Yet, increasingly, the luxury of time is being taken away from us as a result of the sheer number of customers who don’t pay within terms.

Two separate studies have found that around three in every five invoices are paid late – with many of those still outstanding two weeks beyond due date. If ever there was a stat to demonstrate just how challenging the life of a credit controller has become, this is it.

Heavy consequences

While much analysis of the impact this has on a business rightly goes on the cash flow implications, the knock-on effect this can have on the rest of a company’s ledger is often forgotten. Yet it can have just as devastating an impact on a business if not managed carefully.

There are only so many hours in a day, so the longer you spend chasing overdue invoices, the simple truth is there is less time to keep on top of customers whose invoices are approaching their due date.

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• Confessions of a credit controller
• How to choose a credit control agency

Of course, it is logical to prioritise outstanding debts – particularly as invoices become harder to collect the longer they go unpaid.

However, the time between an order being placed and the invoice falling due is arguably the most important phase of the credit control process. Without close attention and carefully timed calls, it becomes easier for other customers to delay payment, creating a snowball effect that drains resource and exacerbates any cash flow problems being caused by late payment.

Take back control

Many of our clients found themselves in this exact position before contacting us, with more and more of their time being consumed by chasing overdue invoices.

They recognised that commercial debt collection agencies do much more than use their expertise to recover debts that are proving difficult to recover – they give businesses back the time to reprioritise their resource by drawing a line under things and making sure other invoices don’t follow the same path.

For example, one of our clients decided to instruct us upon realising too much of their time was being invested into recovering three invoices worth over £11,000 which were months overdue. Our team was able to recover all three quickly, additionally giving their Financial Controller “time to concentrate on the business rather than chasing outstanding payments”. Read the full case study here…

Others choose to engage us on an ongoing basis, for instance instructing us to recover any invoices which reach a certain number of days beyond terms, to prevent aged debts from exhausting their resource in this way.

The point is this: No matter how much time and effort you are investing into chasing overdue invoices, there are always options available to recover what you are owed and rediscover the time you had forgotten exists.

To find out more about how we could help you to regain control of your sales ledger, contact our team on 0800 9774848. Alternatively, get an instant quote to find out what we would charge to successfully recover any overdue invoices you’re worried about.