How can I guarantee collection of an invoice?

Strategies for preventing overdue payments

Fortunately, you can protect your business and your cash flow by implementing a few strategies throughout the commercial relationship.

Customer knowledge and analysis

At the start of this article, we talked about trust.
But this trust cannot be granted without proof.
Before starting any business relationship involving payment on time, find out more about your future customer.
To do this, you may want to contact companies who have already done business with them, but above all you should check their solvency and financial stability.
Sites such as Altares, Pappers or societe.com provide you with documents indicating the company’s finances or payment behaviour.
These sites provide legal information that is often subject to a charge, but is always up to date.

The importance of proactive overdue management

In many cases, the problem of unpaid invoices is not due to the customer’s will, but to a problem of management and organization.
Let’s take a simple case: you send an invoice at the beginning of the month, then nothing more, until you receive a letter stating that the invoice is unpaid.
By sending out a reminder during the period, you remind your customer.
This “reminder” can take several forms: an e-mail to measure the customer’s satisfaction with the transaction, or a call to ask for their opinion of the product, for example.
In this way, you’re discreetly reminding your customer.
Once the invoice has expired, it becomes a receivable.
Then proceed with a classic reminder campaign: one or two reminders as a general rule, before moving on to formal notice.
The best thing to do is to get in touch with your customer to understand the situation: problems with payment methods, disputes concerning the service or simply an internal management problem.

Use a specialized service to protect your invoices

As collection professionals, we decided to develop a complete turnkey solution to protect and guarantee our customers’ invoices.
Our solution is based on the 3 levers of guaranteed invoicing: customer knowledge, dunning and, as a last resort, collection.

How do we protect your invoices and your cash flow?

Firstly, by affixing a DEBTEO protection stick to your customer invoices.
At the same time, our partner Altares keeps a watchful eye on your customers, constantly monitoring their financial stability.
By subscribing to our offer, you gain access to a cockpit for managing your receivables, for optimum efficiency.
We carry out timely reminders on your behalf.
After 60 days of commercial reminders, we move on to amicable collection.
If necessary, after another 60 days, we initiate legal collection.
And in the event of dispute, our network of lawyers and bailiffs will defend your rights vigorously.