It can be difficult to get payments at the best of times from your customers without having to deal with Christmas. Christmas often sees people spending money on presents rather than on their due and payable accounts. The following methods have been expertly provided by Roger Brown of NuOrder Intelligent Financial Business Consulting:
- Send accounts early. Sending your accounts out earlier than normal will help you to get money in quicker and payments on time. December may see you struggling to receive any money so send them a.s.a.p.
- Phone customers. You might like to ring your customers prior to their account being due to ensure that you will receive payment on or around the account due date. This could reduce the amount of people likely to pay late.
- Offer a Christmas discount. As a Christmas generosity you can provide a small discount to those customers who pay their bill prior to the due date. Your discount only needs to be 1% or 2% off the total price payable which to a customer can be a lot, especially when saving to buy their loved one something special.
- Deposits. For new customers wanting to use your business prior to Christmas you may decide to implement an initial payment strategy which allows you to collect a portion of money from your customer, ensuring that you have sufficient money coming into your business. Furthermore, if your customers are adaptable to your business you may decide to ask for a deposit, only during the months of November and December.
- Part payment opportunities. Depending on the size of your customer accounts and orders, a part payment system might be suitable for your business. This system allows you to collect money on a regular basis over a specified period of time without putting the customer into hardship. Again this will help you to collect funds for your business.
- Competition. Again this will depend on your type of business and what you can offer, however a competition can be setup for account payers. You might have a Christmas hamper or go to an extreme such as a Christmas holiday, in which your customers will enter free when they pay their account by the specified date.
Getting paid for your goods and services on time is important and therefore you may need to implement some measures over the Christmas period to ensure you receive your money when it is due and payable.
