Theme: Solicitors, Debt Collection Companies, What Can A Small Business Do When They Have Unpaid Bills With A Large Business?
March 10, 2010It can be difficult to know what action to take when a large business is late in settling the latest bill for projects done or items supplied by a small business. The small business might have done projects for the large business many times and expects to be paid on time as before, but this might be a troublesome time for the large business, especially if they are also waiting for outstanding payments from even larger organisations.
Before resorting to Debt collection methods as a first step, the small business might well want to consider the relationship they have craftedwith the large business, as jumping in too soon with threatening Debt collection letters could so easily ruin that carefully crafted relationship.
The first thing the small business should do is contact the large business and let them know that the payment is late and see if they can do something about it. If this fails to produce a payment of some kind at least, then the small business might well wish to try something different for Debt collection, such as a solicitor who specialises in Debt collection, a Debt collection business, or go for a Debt collection software package and take on the Debt collection themselves.
There are pros and cons to each of these choices, the solicitor and the Debt collection business will make charges, either up front, or after completion of the Debt collection method, but they are likely to be based on the value of the debt and so could be significant. They might also require part payments if the Debt collection method takes longer than expected, such as for sending out multiple Debt collection letters. They would be expected to do a professional job and have experience in Debt collection and so they might well achieve a good success rate. The Debt collection software would be a one-off purchase but would require a worker to operate it if the small business is to get their moneys worth out of the Debt collection software. How successful it is depends principally on how good the Debt collection software package is, such as the quality and content of the on-line help, or a written user guide that has a tutorial that can be used to train or help the operator through the Debt collection method, particularly in the creating of Debt collection letters as these form the core of Debt collection. A good package should include examples of Debt collection letters that would demonstrate what sort of things to write at the different stages of the Debt collection method if multiple Debt collection letters are required. The Debt collection software should emphasise the need to keep the language of Debt collection letters on a professional and ethical basis as these demonstrate the professionalism of the small business and any use of emotional or unethical language could so easily break up the business relationship that purchase, whereas a solicitor or Debt collection business would need to charge for each and every future debt that they are asked to deal with, although the Debt collection software might have a cost in a part of an emplyees job and any printer consumables and naturally the postage of Debt collection letters.