It happens to all of us. We know our customers, and they would never stiff us. Until….it happens to you. A customer that has always paid on time is paying slower than in the past and is becoming increasingly past due.

Most business owners don’t even realize a customer is getting more and more behind until they owe a large sum of money and it is over 60 days past due. What do you do now?

If you don’t have any procedures in place for this type of situation there are 3 things you must do right now in order to get this customer back on track and get your cash flowing again.

1. Call them! Make sure everything is ok, ask what you can do to help them pay your bills on time and get a payment promise today.
2. Send a letter following up on your call - mail it today! It can be short and sweet but must be very specific. Make sure to mention how much will be paid and by what date.
3. FOLLOW UP! If you get a machine, call again tomorrow AND send a letter.

These seem like simple things that won’t make a difference but they will make a huge difference. Try it on 5-10 accounts this week and you will notice more payments coming in. Once you start getting return calls and more checks in the mail it will motivate you to do this for all of your past due customers!

Michelle Dunn, author of an award winning book has spent the last 18 years stepping into dangerous debt collection potholes. She shares her hard-won expertise on debt collection with the titles in her Collecting Money Series. She is the founder and president of Never Dunn Publishing, LLC and her 10 year old Credit & Collections Association with over 1075 members. Michelle started and ran M.A.D. Collection Agency for 8 years. Visit http://www.michelledunn.com and http://www.credit-and-collections.com for more information.