Strategies to avoid delinquent clients



In the commercial field, the payment in a timely manner for the services provided is essential to keep a business running. However, this may not be as simple as it seems: there are many reasons why customers cannot pay. Therefore, it is necessary to have certain strategies to avoid delinquent clients.

How do delinquent customers affect my business?

A business, venture or company depends on the payment of services rendered and products sold to obtain income, carry out its activities efficiently and also to have the opportunity to grow commercially. Precisely for this reason, customer delinquencies can be mild or severe, depending on each case and activity.

This situation tends to affect to a greater extent entrepreneurships and independent businesses that have less capital and financial capacity. Indeed, since in most cases it is about payments deferred to thirty, sixty or ninety days, these circumstances can be incredibly detrimental to the health of your business.

In more serious cases in which a client files for bankruptcy or for some other reason cannot meet the debt contracted, collecting that payment can be difficult and even impossible for small and medium-sized businesses that do not have the resources to carry it out. legal actions prolonged in time —which do not usually justify a minor debt.

How to avoid customer delinquency?

In the field of business administration and advice on the matter, it is always recommended to establish certain strategies that reduce the risk of delinquency and can prevent frequent default situations. In this way, these do not represent a constant loss for the company.

Know your client

One of the main strategies to avoid delinquent clients available for businesses, ventures and companies is to investigate their commercial activity and know their finances in a reliable way. This can be done in many ways, but it will depend on the company and its resources how much you can find out.

Among the options we can mention the testimony of other companies that have worked for the same client, several sources of public and private information. The idea behind this research should be to determine ability to pay and customer commitment.

Strict payment terms

Although there are many facilities that a business can offer a client, flexibility when it comes to payment and fees is one of the most delicate. A very wide flexibility can favour a situation in which, for whatever reason, said client cannot pay what it owes or is indefinitely late in doing so.

Therefore, certain precautions and strict conditions must be established when doing business with customers. In this sense, the contract or invoice must establish payment terms, penalties for moratorium, availability of means of payment, among others. This will force customers to pay back and allow us to pursue legal action more quickly and effectively.

Billing and refinancing

Another very important aspect to avoid delinquent customers is billing for services. In this sense, we must take into account that, if we delay in billing or do it incorrectly, the client assumes this as a lack of interest that he ends up assuming as his own.

Precisely for this reason, we must establish an expeditious billing system that issues invoices and receipts immediately so that the person perceives the immediacy of the transaction. They can also offer refinancing plans in which the client can gradually regularize his situation: this is also preferable for the company, as opposed to losing said income.

Early collection and automatic debit

In the cases in which we must carry out a job or provide a major service to a single client, there are certain guidelines that make it possible to guarantee the mobilization of company resources in the event of any eventuality. The so-called advance payment allows obtaining full or partial payment for a service before starting work on it.

On the other hand, in the case of a service provided periodically, an automatic debit system can be established in which payments are executed immediately once the expiration date has been reached. This is generally accepted for smaller amounts that do not represent a significant expense for clients.

Payment reminders and effective legal actions

Finally, these two methods are extremely effective so that the client intends to regularize his situation. However, a precaution: you should not fall into intimidation and harassment, since this can lead to losing customers and affect the reputation of the business or company.

Payment reminders are actions that remind the client of their obligation to the business and that the latter does not lose sight of their warning. Effective legal action, on the other hand, should be used as a last resort when it is evident that the customer intends not to pay.

In the business and commercial field, avoiding delinquent clients is a task that must be prevented so that non-payment situations are not frequent. Applying effective collection strategies considerably reduces this phenomenon.

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