Did you know that no customer is a liability and that as a business owner, you can leverage every customer relationship in the best interest of your business?
While debt could be a bad spot for a business, how you channel it matters. Debt owed by your customers can either strengthen the bond you have with them or destroy it because your customers are one of your greatest assets.

A lot of businesses dread making collection calls because they fear that they might lose the positive relationship they have with their customers but truthfully, sometimes debts can’t be avoided and bills go unpaid.

While they might be a fear of relationships gone wrong, you can leverage debt recovery as a way to improve customer retention. This means that you can get back your unpaid money and still have a fantastic relationship with your customer in these very simple ways.

1. Communicate constantly with your customer:
It is believed that lack of communication creates great walls of misunderstandings and it is wrong to start on the note of misunderstanding with your customer. So, instead of jumping to conclusions, get on that call and contact your customer about any unpaid amount that is past due, get to the root of why your customer is yet to pay. You might realize that it could be a matter of initial misrepresented thought or service. Resolve is always the best bet.

2. Ask for your payment right away
This is essential. The goal is to retrieve your money and to also ensure that you get your customers to keep purchasing your goods and also pay upfront. Asking for payment right away is never out of place and this can take several forms like;

- Invoice: you can make your invoice payable in full within 30 days and attach interest if payment is delayed beyond the deadline. You can also attach an early payment discount of the actual amount with full payment due in 10-15 business days.
- Deposit: Deposits are good where customers can pay between 25% - 50% down payment and give an actual date when the full payment will be made.
- Upfront: This is the best form of payment. Full payment at the time of sale is relieving.

3. Make your research well.
Before getting into business deals with your customers, do your research. Check out their credit history. You can reduce the troubles if you know customers who pay their bills on time and those who don’t. You can make use of a good credit reporting agency to get data of debt owners, it’s safer to check out your customer’s debt history before issuing service or goods on credit.

4. Make use of a debt recovery agency.

While debt recovery may never be your specialty, debt recovery agencies specialize in debt recovery and customer retention. It’s best to allow the professionals to do their work.

Many times, debt owners will rather welcome a friendly strategy to pay up and that’s why it’s best to get more experienced hands to handle this job. For debt recoveries for your business, click here to see what services we offer and how we can be of help to you and your business.
We highly recommend that you consult a qualified debt recovery agency like Mwanga before taking action on any of the information above.