March 2014

A publication from

An for tackling late payments and growing your business

8-point plan

Late or missed payments can devastate your cash �ow and evenput your business at risk. So it makes sense to deal with this issue as robustly as possible!

Here is our 8-point plan for tackling those troublesome payments:

At the outset, make sure your customer clearly understands about the costs, compensation and interest that you will claim from them if late payment occurs (you should state all this clearly in your T&Cs).

Send your invoices promptly, and in the same calendar month if possible. Follow up with a friendly call or email to check whether the right person has received it.

The minute an invoice becomes overdue, call your customer to remind them that late payment compensation and interest is due or upcoming. Give them details of the exact costs they’ll incur if they don’t pay.

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Leave the customer in no doubt that you WILL claim the full compensation costs and have the means to initiate legal proceed-ings. But at the same time, you can offer to waive compensation if immediate payment is made.

If payment isn’t made, warn your customer of the additional recovery and/or legal costs that will be due in addition to late payment compensation.

‘Go legal’ when you say you will. If you don’t act on your threat your invoices will always remain at the bottom of the pile!

Acting decisively will change your business culture and, at the end of the day, will help reduce late payment for your business. And that’s what it’s all about it, isn’t it?

You may wish to explain that compensation helps pay the costs of running your credit control team.

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Growing your business with Direct Debits 04

Direct Debits are a quick, easy and secure payment method for both customers and businesses.

Almost everyone will be familiar with Direct Debit as 8 out of 10 of the UK population have at least one, to pay commercial or personal bills (most commonly mobile phone bills or gas and electricity).

With this familiarity in mind, Direct Debits are an excellent payment option to offer for many of the services or products a typical business or organisation offers. A good online Direct DebitManagement Solution will allow businesses to:

Set up, automate and manage all Direct Debit transactions.

Easily create and administer payment lists for customers, subscribers or suppliers.

Automatically validate bank account numbers and sort codes.

Manage Direct Debit instructions, including submission of payment files to Bacs.

Securely manage transaction authorisations and payment approval workflows.

Ensure letters, transactions and processes comply with the latest Direct Debit Service scheme rules.

Reconcile Bacs reports that advise of unpaid items, amended details and can-celled Direct Debit payment instructions.

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Reference Linkhttp://www.lawdonut.co.uk/blog/2013/08/tackling-late payment10-point-action-plan

http://www.businessadviceserviceblog.com/2013/07/18/8-tips to-improve-your-businesss-cash-�ow/

Send invoices on time!

058 top tips to grow your business and boost cash flow