He scripted their approaches carefully and made sure that collection staffers had a customer service orientation. Within 15 minutes of every new sale, a customer service rep calls the customer to go over the order, explaining payment terms. New clients' references are now checked quickly by phone, not by mail. Invoicing and follow-up. Customer service calls are now made less than 10 days after invoices are mailed to flag any problems that might indicate payment slowdowns.
Reps also ask clients to commit to a payment date.
The accounting department now coordinates its activities with sales, customer service, and other key departments. This material was excerpted from Chapter 14 of Financial Troubleshooting, by David H. Bangs Jr. and Michael Pellecchia. All rights reserved.