Morning everyone, hope you all have had a great week!
Yesterday I was chasing an account for $658- this company had hired a crane from one of my clients and despite numerous requests for payment, obviously it remained outstanding. The first time I spoke with them last week I was promised payment the next day. Ok, pretty decent outcome- they did everything right- wrote down our trust account details to pay into, asked me to email the invoice which I did while they were still on the phone, promised to email receipt once done. The next day came and went with no sign of the payment. Subsequent messages were not returned however yesterday I finally managed to speak with them and they again promised payment later that day. The customer was very apologetic and claimed it had just slipped his mind. Unfortunately for them, I do not allow myself to be burnt twice and I insisted payment needed to be made that day to ensure no further action was taken. My exact words to them were “If you can slip through the payment now, I will hold while you do it so at least that way there is no risk of you forgetting again, I can grab the receipt number off you and we can all move on” The customer said he would need to seek approval to pay it then and there and I told him that’s fine, I would wait for as long as it takes. For 10 minutes I was subjected to their awful hold music, when he finally came back with the approval, logged onto his internet banking, paid it and provided me the receipt number. Guys, asking your customer to pay it then and there while you hold is a great way to ensure it happens. The key is to make it seem like you are doing it to help them- help them ensure they do not forget again. You may have heard me say this before but it is a mantra I live and breathe by: The less you need to rely on your customer to get paid, the better. Cheers guys