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Over-the-top sales might be exciting and give you the sensation that you’ve made a lot of money. However, deep within, you’re aware that you can’t rest yet since you’ve given out a proportion of those sales on credit.
The issue with accounts receivable is that you need to convert them into cash quickly. The longer they remain idle, the more difficult they’ll be to recover. When you accumulate many of these, it can devastate your ability to keep afloat.
If you want to learn more about optimizing your accounts receivable management, continue reading.
1. Identify Flaws in Your Collection Procedures
The goal is to recover your money. However, not all businesses actively pursue overdue payments from clients. Review your current collection procedure to see whether there is a need for enhancement in ensuring timely payments.
For instance, you may wish to simplify the way you record so that your team can see which accounts are likely to receive payments and which are at default risk. Review your collection policies more closely to check if your team is following them.
Late payments sometimes result from your team acting unprofessionally, such as when they neglect to send out the proper follow-ups and reminders.
Perhaps your staff doesn’t have the expertise to make effective collections, or maybe there’s an issue with the recording system, and they aren’t getting up-to-date information.
Whatever it is, a thorough examination of collection procedures will reveal flaws that shouldn’t be there.
2. Establish Clarity in Your Credit Policies
Maximize the effectiveness of your policies. If you sell on credit, you need guidelines for handling new and returning clients and troublesome clients that could negatively impact your accounts receivable scores.
Make your credit policies and receivables collection practices crystal clear.
Among the most important considerations include:
- The approach you use to determine a client’s creditworthiness.
- What determines a client’s credit limit and when you give them one.
- How successful are you in collecting past-due receivables?
Remember that policies will only be effective if you enforce them constantly; otherwise, they serve no purpose.
Your sales and finance teams are at the frontline of implementing these policies. Maintaining a regular review schedule will allow you to identify flaws early and adjust to new circumstances.
3. Ensure You’re Easy to Pay
When refining the collection process, most firms still fail to recognize the value of providing customers with simple and quick payment options.
Customers are unique, and not everybody is comfortable using the same payment option. Fortunately, nothing is limiting you from providing many payment options.
In addition to traditional methods like bank transfers and checks, you can accept payment via credit cards, debit cards, and electronic wallets.
You might even take it one step further and give them access to a user-friendly dashboard from which they can monitor progress and interact with you whenever they want.
4. Shift Your Attention to Clients, Not the To-Do Lists
With easy access to a wealth of information and feedback from internet forums and review sites, the bar to entry for making a change has never been lower.
There are only two possible outcomes from each interaction with a client: strengthening or weakening the relationship. One of the most crucial accounts receivables to analyze is the collections procedure since this is where your hard-earned money and your client relationship are at risk.
Therefore, why would task lists, which fundamentally reward volume, be the foundation of such crucial outreach? There is always a mix of clients on any work list; some pay immediately after you remind them, and others need more hands-on help to honor their obligation.
Top businesses are capitalizing on this opportunity by freeing up employees from the burden of strict adherence to call and task lists so they may have more in-depth conversations with customers.
For instance, if 90% of your clients pay after getting a reminder, and the other 10% don’t, how much more productive would your staff be if you streamline the reach to the 90 percent who do pay?
5. Work in Real-Time
Not having the most up-to-date information is not an acceptable excuse in this century. You’re missing out on enormous opportunities in accounts receivable management if you’re only using spreadsheets, macros, and formulas and subjecting your business to a significant risk.
How often does your team have to apologize to clients and let them know their payments have gone through, but they didn’t get confirmation since the data they’re using is two or three days old?
Such things make customers less likely to trust a business. However, having access to real-time payment data and client history will truly impact your team’s interactions with one another and with clients.
6. Start as Soon as Possible
It would help if you began applying approaches for generating sales and establishing client relationships as early as possible. It will help ensure that you can take proactive actions before a crisis arises. To achieve that, it’s essential to have conversations about payment terms, payment periods, and discounts at the outset of the sales process.
Businesses establish their terms in distinct ways. Due to the greater need for consistent cash flow, startups may favor shorter payment terms, while big firms can afford to wait. The terms might also vary based on the credit and payment history of the client.
For instance, customers with a proven track record of prompt payment may receive additional perks, such as an increase in credit limit and extension of repayment terms.
7. Choose Routine Monthly Fees Over Standard Invoices
Monthly billing can help streamline your accounts receivable procedures and practices. It will aid in the budget improvement and motivate customers to make prompt payments.
In addition, moving to monthly payments ensures that your customer can pay by Direct Debit, rendering it easy to collect overdue payments.
Final Thoughts
Effective accounts receivable management is a must for any business. The only way to guarantee a steady cash flow and efficient operations is to have a solid accounts receivable procedure. Adopting the above best practices will help you optimize your accounts receivable management even if you already have a robust system.
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