Your 4 step guide to being paid for Christmas.

We know you don’t want reminding of this but Christmas is on it’s way ! !

Yes, we can hear you from here… but what has Christmas got to do with credit control ?

Simples, the invoices you raise in October become your Christmas Cash-Flow ! !

Let’s not forget that December brings 4 weeks of expenditure but with only the potential for 3 weeks of sales, so now more than ever, it is important to have a strong grip on your credit control.

We advise you incorporate the following 4 simple steps to maximising your chances of being paid before Christmas.

1, Analyse your ledger, see which clients have large bills from October, ring their Accounts Payable and ask them when they are closing for Christmas.

•   Being forewarned is forearmed. You can’t chase an account if there’s nobody there to take your calls or answer your emails.

2, No later than the 14th November, email a statement of account to ALL of your customers.

• Some customers WILL pay early when you flag it up just to get it off their desk but if you don’t take that chance, you won’t feel the reward.

3, On Wednesday 26th November, send a ‘Pre-Due Email’ to the larger accounts that will make a difference to your cash flow.

• A one paragraph email asking whether the customer has everything they need from you before processing the invoice/s can also provoke a payment.

4, Finally, set an afternoon aside on Monday 8th December to ring around the remainder of your October accounts.

• Book time in your diary, let your team know what you’re doing, grab your credit control script (ring us if you don’t have one) and make some calls. Worse case scenario, it’s a great excuse to catch up with clients, wish them all the best for Christmas and cement those customer relations, all whilst securing your hard earned monies.

Follow the above and we can guarantee you’ll maximise your chances of having your ‘dough, dough, dough’ by the time you’re hearing ‘ho, ho, ho’.