It’s not hard to understand why business leaders get frustrated over outstanding debts. The money should already be in their accounts, so the company can use it to pay hydro bills, wages, salaries, and other necessities.
Instead, they need to expend more resources trying to recoup money that should already be there. Thankfully, professional debt collectors can help. Here’s how they do it.
Better Skip Tracing
Tracking down debtors who don’t want to be found isn’t always easy. They may relocate or change the name of their business to cover up their tracks. Using a fully licensed private investigator for skip tracing is a proven process for debt recovery that works wonders.
It’s rare to find a professional debt collector with a private investigator in-house, but if you can, hire them. Investigators have access to resources and databases that companies relying on free support can’t match.
You won’t have to calculate whether the risk of investing in locating a person is worth it or not — the investigator will find them and their assets sooner. Timely reports to the major credit bureaus can impact the debtor’s credit, making it harder and more expensive for them to take out a loan in the future. Incentivizing debtors to make their payments is the best way to collect the debt.
Maintain Relationships
Some companies fear that asking a customer or partner to repay their debt may burn a bridge or sour them on future partnerships. Even if the person does indeed owe, nobody likes being asked to make a payment.
The best debt collectors manage to recoup more of your money sooner without doing anything to harm your reputation or upset anybody. Instead, they make it a point to be friendly, helpful, and collegial with everybody they encounter. They are trained negotiators trying to help both sides move forward.
Hollywood movies may depict debt collectors in a negative light, and, sadly, sometimes real debt collectors use harsh, aggressive methods to collect debts, such as robocalls, late-night calls, threatening language, and more.
Don’t work with a debt collector whose aggressive practices would reflect badly on your business and undermine relationships you’ve worked hard to build.
Employees Cause Drain, Too
What happens when the source of financial drain isn’t a delinquent customer or partner but your own employees? Your staff deserve all the money they earn, but businesses can’t afford to pay them beyond what they’ve mutually agreed to.
Employees may file a business expense incorrectly, charging a personal expense to the company accidentally or on purpose. Some employees receive free training and ongoing education at the company’s expense, only to abruptly quit after the training is over. This may void their agreement, as no business would invest money in training somebody who doesn’t work there, and, the salt in the wound, may even work for a rival.
Companies work hard to make money, but they shouldn’t have to whip it into high gear to collect money they should already have. Professional debt collectors tidily recoup whatever is owed so executives and managers can focus on what lies ahead.
