Welcome to 2015! A time of new beginnings, fresh mindsets and inevitably overdue debts from the previous year. The Christmas hangover for businesses who run accounts is real, and it is vital to act quickly and decisively. January is easily the hardest month of the year to collect money yet there are things you can do to mitigate the risk and ensure you doing everything you can to get paid on time. Many commercial customers may have closed down for 2 weeks, thus not earning an income and in turn not being able to pay you. Debt works in a vicious cycle and often your customer cannot pay you because his customer hasn’t paid him. If these are the excuses you are being given, by all means work with the customer, but remind them that you cannot be at their mercy and stress the need to be paid as quickly as they can. If an invoice was due in December, contact the customer the first week in January and establish a plan to get paid. Time really is of the essence It is absolutely vital that you are proactive and make every single effort to speak with your customer as quickly as possible. They will be prioritising their current and future income and you want to ensure your account or invoice is at the top of the list. Often there will be multiple creditors chasing them for payment, and when funds are tight, they will pay who is showing the most urgency. Make sure this is you. Allowing invoices from the previous year to fall over into February sets a bad precedent and is essentially telling the customer that you are ok with waiting. If they are unable to pay in full immediately, aim to have the account cleared by January 31. Combining this deadline with a statement such as this will obviously allow you to start the new month of February fresh and without this account hanging over your head. People like fresh starts and planting these seeds in their mind is very powerful and will motivate even the hardest of customers to part with their money.
January- The hardest month of the year to get paid