Alright, so it's been a while since I first blogged. Well here we go: I had a client ask yesterday, "What is different today, rather than say, a year ago?" My reply was simple. The biggest difference that we are seing is the speed in which a customer, that seems to be going along fine, just goes out of business and disappears. We have a client, who's customer was buying normally though the middle of Feb, but by the first week of March the phones were disconnected. That's quick! Which brings me to my point. We are having the most success right now for clients that have a structured A/R plan, and stick to it. The "sticking to it" being paramount. Even in today's economy, I have clients for which we have a success rate above 70%. Our rate of success is as much about what our clients do as it is about what we do. I spend a lot of time talking to clients about their plan, because it directly affects our plan. If our client gives a customer a final deadline five times, when we call the debtor will be like "yeah right, we've heard that before". The debtor needs to know that when it comes to payment of your invoices, you mean what you say. If you tell them that the account is going to collections if they don't pay in ten days, then when they don't pay in ten days the account needs to go to collection. It is no different then disciplining your kids! If you tell them they are getting a time out if they don't listen, but they never actually get a time out, your words mean very little!
The bottom line is: Say what you mean, mean what you say. Have a plan and stick to it!
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