A payment plan is the second best outcome you can hope for when chasing a customer for payment. Here are some guidelines to ensure they stick to the arrangement:
Do’s:
1. Aim for weekly payments. Fortnightly or monthly increases the risk and your anxiety.
2. Work with your customer to agree on the instalment amount. It must be affordable for it to work.
3. Have them set up an automatic payment from their internet banking and email you the confirmation. Every single bank in Australia allows this.
4. Stay on top of the arrangement and call the customer within a day of a payment being missed. Your diligence will be appreciated by them trust me.
5. If the arrangement constantly breaks, re-evaluate, again in consultation with the customer.
6. Three months should be the maximum length of an arrangement. Aim to work with the customer to have the debt paid in full within 12 weeks.
Don’ts:
1. Get lazy or complacent. Allowing them to pay the debt off should be seen as a privilege, not a right.
2. Dictate the amount you want them to pay. If they can’t afford it, there is literally no point setting it up.
3. Forget to confirm the arrangement in writing. This is vital.
4. Forget to encourage them to notify you at least a day before a payment is due if they are going to struggle to make it.
5. Forget to provide regular updates of the remaining balance to the customer. Seeing the debt reducing is a very powerful way to keep the customer motivated