It can be hard to know what to do when a large enterprise is late in settling the latest bill for work done or items supplied by a small enterprise. The small enterprise could have done work for the large enterprise many times and expects to be paid on time as before, but this could be a difficult time for the large enterprise, especially if they are also waiting for unpaid bills from even larger businesses.
Before resorting to Debt collection processes right away, the small enterprise could well wish to think about the relationship they have culturedwith the large enterprise, as jumping in too soon with threatening Debt collection letters could so easily ruin that carefully cultured relationship.
The first thing the small enterprise should do is get in touch with the large enterprise and jog their memory that the payment is late and see if they can do something about it. If this fails to produce a payment of some kind at least, then the small enterprise could well wish to try a different approach for Debt collection, such as a solicitor who specialises in Debt collection, a Debt collection agency, or go for a Debt collection software package and take on the Debt collection in-house.
There are pros and cons to each of these choices, the solicitor and the Debt collection agency will make charges, either up front, or after completion of the Debt collection method, but they are likely to be based on the value of the debt and so could be significant. They could also require part payments if the Debt collection method takes longer than anticipated, such as for sending out multiple Debt collection letters. They would be expected to do a professional job and have experience in Debt collection and so they could well achieve a good success rate. The Debt collection software would be a one-off purchase but would require a member of staff to use it if the small enterprise is to get value out of the Debt collection software. How successful it is depends largely on how good the Debt collection software package is, such as the quality and content of the on-line help, or a written instruction manual that has a tutorial that can be used to train or help the user through the Debt collection method, in particular in the composing of Debt collection letters as these form the core of Debt collection. A good package may containcome with examples of Debt collection letters that would show what sort of things to write at the different stages of the Debt collection method if multiple Debt collection letters are required. The Debt collection software should emphasise the need to keep the phraseology of Debt collection letters on a professional and ethical standing as these demonstrate the professionalism of the small enterprise and any use of emotional or unethical phraseology could so easily break up the business relationship that has been built up, whereas a solicitor or Debt collection agency would need to charge for each and every future debt that they are asked to follow up, although the Debt collection software could have a cost in a part of a workers job and any printer consumables and of course the postage of Debt collection letters.
