| Oftentimes, business spend almost 100% of | | | | 73 cents of every dollar. After one year, |
| their time focusing on how to get new | | | | you're likely to collect only 25 cents of |
| business in the door but have no specific | | | | every dollar owed. The most efficient way to |
| process for collecting on past due accounts. | | | | start the collection process is to send a 10 |
| Business owners might be surprised at how | | | | day demand letter. Aguirre, Aikman, and |
| much revenue is waiting to be collected in | | | | Brown collection agency offers a free 10 day |
| the form of past due accounts. With these 5 | | | | demand letter which is sent on official |
| steps, you'll be on your way to recovering a | | | | collection agency letterhead after you fill |
| great deal of found money: | | | | out a simple online form. Through AABUSA, |
| | | | printing and mailing are all free of charge. |
| Take Inventory | | | | Oftentimes, a 10 day demand letter from a |
| | | | collection agency is enough to get a customer |
| The first step is to find out just how much | | | | to pay. |
| revenue you're missing from past due | | | | |
| accounts. Flag any accounts that are more | | | | Contact a Collection Agency |
| than 30 days over due along with the date | | | | |
| that the last payment was made. Enter the | | | | Just like you are a specialist in your field, |
| customer's name in column A and the date of | | | | a collection agency knows what works when it |
| the last payment in column B. Label column C | | | | comes to collecting overdue payments. There |
| "days overdue and insert the Excel formula | | | | are very specific rules and regulations |
| =TODAY()-B2, which will return the exact | | | | around the permissible methods of contacting |
| number of days it has been since each | | | | a debtor to collect on a past due balance. A |
| customer made a payment. This free and | | | | collection agency stays up to date on |
| simple organizational tool will help you | | | | consumer rights laws to keep them and you out |
| prioritize your collection efforts. | | | | of trouble while still achieving the desired |
| | | | results. No debtor likes the idea of owing |
| Call the Customer | | | | money to a collection agency and debtors are |
| | | | more likely to pay once contacted by a |
| You don't have to be a collection agency to | | | | collection agency. |
| give your customers a ring. Try calling your | | | | |
| customers to find out why they haven't paid | | | | Set up an Alert System |
| their bill. Many times when the customer | | | | |
| realizes that their lack of payment is | | | | Since the longer payments are overdue the |
| affecting a person, not just a faceless | | | | less you are likely to collect, it's critical |
| business, they are likely to make their | | | | to set up some type of alert system to let |
| payment. Unfortunately, making calls doesn't | | | | you and your associates know when an account |
| always turn out positive and you'll need to | | | | is overdue. Whether this is by constantly |
| take further measures like hiring a | | | | updating your Excel sheet or by using more |
| collection agency. | | | | sophisticated software, having some sort of |
| | | | alert system is a critical piece of running a |
| Send Ten Day Demand Letters | | | | profitable business. Once a payment becomes |
| | | | a certain number of days overdue, get in the |
| In the collection business, it's critical to | | | | habit of making a phone call or sending a |
| move quickly. According to collection agency | | | | demand letter and you'll be surprised at how |
| statistics, once an account becomes 3 months | | | | much less revenue you'll lose as a result of |
| past due, you will most likely collect only | | | | deadbeat clients. |