Credit Control is all about good foundations. Any company needs to get paid, and this means every healthy business needs a plan to make sure this happens in a timely and organised fashion. You cannot control your customers, but you can have a good, solid plan on how to interact with them; and what to ask for.
Simply put, your plan for Credit Control is how you set yourself up to be paid. This starts with making sure you have someone properly trained sending out correct invoices, and a functional system to ensure these invoices not only get paid, but that it is noticed and action is taken if they aren’t paid.
Depending on the focus of your business, creating a further plan for credit control might be very easy. Perhaps you are able to take deposits, or might use references where this is not possible. Some companies are lucky enough to be holding their clients’ software licences, for example, and can with relative ease withhold access until payment is given. In other cases, a more elaborate plan is needed to ensure a successful practice.
Credit Control is best practised as a long term strategy. Similarly to how you need to build a good relationship with your client or customer in order to work well with them, many future credit problems can be avoided by building solid foundations for future Credit Management. A client that trusts you and your company is also more likely to be a client you can trust in turn.
Make sure you listen to your contacts and learn how to understand their needs, so that a solution can be more readily found if one becomes needed. Ideally, you need to build lasting relationships with your clients, so that you can work with them to resolve any potential problems together.
There are many facets to running a business, and there is no accounting for circumstances, but you can influence what outcome they lead to. A solid Credit strategy is an excellent first step towards a healthy business with a steady cash balance.
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