The head of www.debtcollectinglondon.co.uk presents some great questions you should ask yourself before employing the services of a debt collector

Am I spending my time to the best advantage?
Debt collecting should be a dispassionate exercise. No one likes being put off or cheated, but you must put your effort where you can get results, not where you can get even. You only have some limited time available. Use it well. You should have  a list of debtors. Ranked in order of size is best. In ABC order is plain silly. Who cares whether the £1,000 is owed by Able Ltd or Zebra Co.? Spend the time you allocate on the larger amounts.

Have I tried telephoning to ask what the problem is?
Woman are much better at this than men. The rules are simple.  People can just ignore letters. Telephone. Get put through to the top man in his department. Make a note of who you speak to and what he says. If he says he will ring back, ask by when you can expect the call. When he does not, you phone him. You want a promise to pay by a certain date. Note the diary. Payment may well not arrive! Persist. Phone again. Ask what happened. You can pretend to believe it or not. Make him feel he’s let you down (That is why woman are better at collecting than men). Repeat the performance.

What about a visit?
It is of course against the law to embarrass or harass a debtor, but I have known creditors detail off staff to visit the customer. Let them take a copy of the account in case. Cornering the person who signs is not easy, nor everybody’s cup of tea, but the payer is sure to feel awkward and perhaps anxious to hide the psoition from his staff.

Have I tried to make paying easier for the customer?
No-one likes paying up. Make it a bit easier for him – and cheaper  for you than employing a debt collector. Small businesses might pay up quicker if  you can offer to accept payment by cc.   If your payer is in financial difficulties., you want to be paid BEFORE the others.  Suggest  payment on account, regular payments , or better why not a series of post-dated cheques (both signs of weakness), but you can be sure you are not his only creditor and absolutely anything is going to be better than driving him to the wall.

Lastly, couldn’t I be collecting the debt myself?
Debt collectors will throw up their hands in horror, but they all know that creditors could easily handle the simpler cases. A fresh face collecting is certainly effective, but these days there is no mystery in suing. It can even be done on line.  Try.

For more information about debt collection in london visit the companies site.