Collecting Unpaid Invoices: Prioritize A/R Collection Calls (Part 3)

In the first part of this series you learned 7 ways to differentiate your high priority accounts and why figuring this out is hugely important to collecting unpaid invoices. The second part of this series then focused on what to do with those accounts after you have figured out who they are. In the third and final part of this series I will tell you what to do with that 80% of your customers who are not high priority accounts but are equally as important.

1. The first thing you need to do is identify key employees who will have direct involvement in the payment process. Be sure to have accurate contact information to ensure the message is getting to the right person. If you can figure out your key contacts preferred method of communication you should definitely do that.
2. Define the actions that will be taken at certain times or milestones in the collection of a past due invoice; such as 1 day past due, 5, 10, etc you do not have to wait for a payment to be 30 days past due to contact your customers and the further past the deadline they get the more frequent your communications should be.
3. Develop a series of collection documents with specific and escalating messages to support your collection actions.
4. If any of your sent communications bounce, always be sure to investigate why this has happened; a follow up phone call to ensure proper contact information is necessary.
5. Using an automated system can help you keep track of your invoices, alert you with next-steps, and  help you efficiently manage your accounts receivable, lower bad debt write offs, reduce DSO, and more.

That about sums it up; by following the steps and guidelines in this series you will be well on your way to greatly improving your accounts receivable collection processes. In conclusion of this series let’s have a short recap of what you have learned:

1. Many companies no matter the size have trouble collecting unpaid invoices.
2. There are a number of strategies available to help you speed up your processes and get paid faster. Prioritizing your list is a major “to do”.
3. Automated systems such as Anytime Collect help make collecting accounts receivable easier; especially when handling your lower priority accounts.

For more expert advice on better managing your accounts receivable, check out our white paper, “17 things you should be doing right now to reduce outstanding accounts receivable.” You can download it for free, here.

About e2b teknologies:

e2b teknologies operates three business units – e2b anytime apps , e2b enterprise, and e2b calibration. e2b enterprise develops custom cloud-based business applications and resells leading ERP accounting software, CRM, HRMS, and other enterprise business software applications from Sage Software, Epicor, Intacct, SugarCRM, and other publishers. e2b anytime is the publisher of; Anytime Commerce B2B ecommerce platform, Anytime Collect, Anytime Assets, Anytime 500, and related Anytime brand products.  e2b calibration is an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited calibration and repair laboratory providing a full scope of services (traceable to NIST) for most popular calibration, test, and measurement instruments.

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by Jeanne Lee