Five Top Tips to Avoid Your Customer Being Able to Say NO

 

Credit Control is much more than asking for payment but asking for payment is often the thing people don’t like doing, go in too hard, you risk your customer going on the defensive, go too soft and they may pay others in front of you.

Everyone wants to be paid on time and effective credit control minimises late payment, it is easy to fall into the habit of relying on automatic systems, pre templated emails and we won’t even mention letters.

What about the telephone, human interaction, customer engagement and actually making that call to ask for what you are owed, do you avoid it? Are you comfortable doing it? There is a skill to credit control that is often overlooked:

Below are five tips to help you:

1: Accounts Payable, Purchase Ledger and Accounts, make it clear when you call that you are looking to speak to the person who pays the accounts, you may need to re word your request as some don’t know the terms of Purchase Ledger and Accounts Payable. If you are not clear you will end up leaving a message or being told no one is available.

2: Always make accurate notes of who you speak to and what is said just in case they do not pay, ask for an email address to confirm the conversation if necessary, don’t be worried about telling them you are making a note on their account it often helps them take your call more seriously.

3: Instead of saying the words Is and When ie: “ Is my invoice approved for payment ?” turn it around to “So my invoice has been approved and payment will be on the next payment run, when will that be?” A positive statement rather than an open question is more focused and avoids giving them the easy option of saying No.

4: If you are told no one is available, ask when there will be someone available, ask for their name and direct number , make a diary note and follow it up, remember no one available is most likely no payment is coming out in many cases.

5: Check before you call check that your invoice is correct and that you are as sure as you can be that there is no reason for them to dispute it, then when you call you can easily provide a copy, quote the order number etc.