It is more vital than ever before for businesses to keep a tight rein on financial matters, especially in the current climate where even well-meaning formerly prompt-payers might now be struggling and have difficulty paying for products or services. Here a few top tips to avoid going into the ‘red’:

1. Perform a credit check on new customers before you start working for them to establish their credit history.
2. Establish a credit limit for customers and review this regularly based on their payment history.
3. Wherever possible obtain a personal guarantee from company directors.
4. Draw up a contract containing your terms and conditions and secure a signed copy.
5. Invoice for goods and services promptly and check the invoice carefully for accuracy before issuing.
6. Reiterate your payment terms on your invoices.
7. Call customers before payments are due to ensure there are no queries or problems.
8. Send monthly statements.
9. Contact customers promptly once the invoices are due for settlement to check when payments will be made.
10. Consider out-sourcing late paying accounts to a reputable collections agency.

What service do debt collection agencies provide?

Every collector at Daniels Silverman has on-line access to a variety of investigation tools, allowing them to establish ways of contacting debtors to evaluate their ability to pay. These include internet searches, business searches including full account details, director contact details including home address, alternative business addresses and registered offices, associated company details, trading histories, CCJ’s, company dissolutions, electoral roll information, land registry data including property value and likely equity levels, bankruptcy listings, insolvency searches to check on IVAs bankruptcies and winding up petitions.

Armed with in-depth background information on each debtor they ensure every avenue is explored to recover debts in full and obtain unprecedented results thereby boosting profits and increasing cash flow for their clients.

An account manager is assigned to every client which ensures easy, clear communication and most importantly cleared funds are paid out weekly to clients by bank transfer.

Daniels Silverman currently acts for thousands of businesses of various sizes up and down the country. For more information visit www.danielssilverman.co.uk or call 0800 694 2271.