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The right frame of mind before starting your credit control helps make it enjoyable and productive. A few guidelines are:

1. Be calm.

2. Avoid interruptions. Dedicate enough time to get your money in.

3. Avoid being told "we paid you yesterday" by checking who has paid – check your mail and bank for direct credits.

4. If your accounts are up to date, print last month’s aged debtors list - if it is say April, use the list at 31 March as it should show the correct aging. Life is harder if records are not up to date. If

you haven’t time, at least enter your invoices and payments received. Failing that, print out your monthly invoices or use the file copies of invoices and check these off against bank records – deposit book or statement.

5. If you do not use accounts software, or you are very behind, list all unpaid invoices on lined A4 paper. Show the invoice date, customer name and amount and write a fresh list each month. Whilst you can use your hard copies, a list is best as some customers may owe you money on more than one invoice. Also, check that you have not missed any.

6. Unless your accounts software has a credit control tracking system, keep paper records of contacts with debtors. Use a lined A4 pad. Write down the debtor’s name, amount of invoice and date due. Leave several lines between each debtor to record the promises they make each time you contact them.

7. When they pay, cross them off the list – using a red pen increases the pleasure.

8. Attend to major $ value overdue accounts first.

9. Next concentrate on debtors at 90, 60 and 30 days.

Now, off you go......
Telephone credit control

Good negotiating skills are helpful for telephone credit control. Try and be a better negotiator than the debtor. It gets easier with practice, but is harder if you are dealing with professional "I Neverpay"s.

The phone is the easiest way of contacting debtors as it takes less time. Trouble is a phone call can soon be forgotten or become confrontational, so sometimes a fax is better.

If you are experienced in the art of asking for money, or selling or negotiating, you will probably have good phone techniques already. If these are polite, non-aggressive and effective, then continue to use them. Credit control is surprisingly easy and you do not need to be daunted, as over 90% of people you talk to should be friendly.

Effective methods are:
1. Have details of amount and date due before phoning

2. Relax and be calm so you remain in control

3. Speak to the person who pays the accounts or signs the cheques. Ask for them by name. If this is not known ask their operator for it. The accounts payable person may be a clerk, the accountant, a director or the proprietor. In larger firms it is good form to start at junior level, then work upwards if they do not pay. In smaller firms the owner may do everything.

4. What to say. Politely introduce yourself:

" Good morning Mary, this is Fred the Credit Controller of (your company name), how are you?"