South Africa is currently going through a tough economic time, unemployment is at all time highs and cash is tight. Therefore every small business owner will know the stress that is created when your clients do not pay on time, it impacts on your cash flow and will ultimately put you on a collision course with your own suppliers who are relying on you to pay within the agreed terms. i-Check Data Solutions have a number of smart solutions that help with debt collecting in South Africa for small business owners.

Business owners need to take note and if possible run back ground checks on all clients before offering credit and in the event a client starts to fail to make agreed payments then a second check to establish what is going on in their companies that may lead them fail to make the agreed payments on time.

Tips for collecting on overdue accounts

Chasing a debtor is never a pleasant experience but debt collecting is key to a businesses survival and if you follow these simple suggestions then it will help to make the process as painless as possible.

• Dona wait weeks after payment was due to start pushing for collection, the general rule of thumb is that the longer you wait to collect, the harder the collection becomes.
•  Try to deal with someone other than your regular contact, obviously there is some reason behind the failure to pay on time, shifting your focus to a different person within the company can sometime help to keep the tension down and actually get straight answers about whats holding up the payment and when the matter will be resolved.
• Try to determine when the outstanding payment will be made, if you can get a confirmed date then this at least gives you some point of departure if you need to escalate the matter.
• Once you have got a confirmed payment date, then keep in touch and send friendly reminder emails or follow up with a telephone call to confirm that the payment is still scheduled for the agreed time. You will be a friendly “pain in their asses” chances are quite good that they will make the payment simply to have you stop calling.
• You need to be ready to take the matter further and make this clear to the company you are dealing with, if necessary you will maybe have to get professionals in to help extract the debt. This needs to be weighed up with the pros and cons and if it is still viable then explore it.

I-Check Data Solutions has a number of solutions that can help you with your debt collecting needs, we also have the ability to run background checks on clients before issuing credit. If you would like to know more about our services please don’t hesitate to contact one of our friendly sales teams.