3 Questions To Ask A Customer That Hasn’t Paid On Time
Sometimes customers decide not to pay, sometimes even if they have always paid on time before. When this happens it can be frustrating and time consuming trying to find out what might have gone wrong to cause them not to pay and then more time chasing the payment. Sometimes it could be all due to some innocent mistake made either by you or your customer but either way it’s important to find out why your customer hasn’t paid you by asking them these five questions.
1. Is there a problem making the payment?
If you haven’t received payments on time you are entitled to ask why and asking if there is a problem making the payment will at least give your customer an opportunity to tell you if there is indeed an issue. If they say no then they don’t have any other excuse to fall back on, if they ignore you then you can go into debt recovery mode.
2. Who should I send the invoice to?
If it’s a new customer that hasn’t paid then it may just be down to poor communication. Your invoice may not have been sent to the right person or it wasn’t forwarded on to the company accounts department. Asking where to send the invoice at least demands a response from your late paying client and ensures that it is clear that it is being sent to the right person.
3. If I send you another copy of the invoice can you settle it today?
Some customers can buy time by saying they never received the invoice or there was some mistake on it even though they know full well that they should pay on time. If you send them another copy and you have already passed the deadline, make sure you ask them if they can settle immediately. This is only reasonable when they have already passed the due date and any refusal to pay at this stage will be a clear red flag.