I know this is in the wrong section, but where else am I to put it Anyway, my question is how long do you wait for your payment from a client untill you make that dreaded phone call. I hate having to call a customer to ask where my payment is, but I have a guy who owes me for 3 cars and they were done at the end of May :help: The customer in question I have had for probally close to 15 years and its always the same thing. I might also add that he has refered more business to me then probally any other client ever has. So, I don't know if he thinks he is entitled to this behavior or if this is standard procedure in how he pays all his bills :shakehead: As always, any and all comments are appreciated in this matter :usa: Kind Regards, Philbert :hi:
It's always a dreaded phone call, but it needs to be done as it's not acceptable. You wouldn't pay your AT&T bill late by three or four months even though you had referred a few friends to use their service, right?
I understand that prompt payment is expected, but in this business, as with many, referrals are so crucial. You would never want to disrupt the flow of referrals. Id just drop him an email, and ask politely. If no response, Id place a phone call and ask. Its a tough situation.
Maybe you could send a notice or something first, just a little friendly reminder in the mail. It might be more subtle than a creditor-type call.
Or if you really wanted to, send your bill to him again with a note along the lines of "just a reminder in case you forgot" or something like that. Then give it a week for him to contact you or receive payment. If nothing happens, give him a call, to ask if he got your bill. That way you can work out payment arrangements during that phone call.
If it's been more than a week then you should call him and politely ask him to pay his bill. Or if you have his credit card info on file, call him, politely remind him that he still has an outstanding balance and ask him if he'd like for you to just go ahead and charge his card.
All my customers are cash only n they have to pay upon delivery. People with no money shouldn't get their car detail. I'm know I'm losing business, but it saves me lots of headache.
No doubt. I dreadfully hate to make these kinda calls, but it must be done at some point I suppose :sorry: P1et. Why is there not a Thank You key under your reply :shead: Yea, I have thought of doing this to a few different customers. Its really rather ironic and funny though. The customers I always seem to have this problem with are Doctors. Anyone thats been to the Doctor/Dentist knows, theres always a sign at the check-in counter that states > "Payment due when services rendered unless other arrangments have been made" You would think they would know better :shakehead: There is know doubt about not wanting to piss off a loyal customer of 15+years. Especially one that hands out your biz cards like they were tootsie rolls to future clients that would be near immpossible to get otherwise :claping: Yea, I don't really use the email system. I am way behind on the technical end of life :crash: Yea, I have thought about this to. Something to remind them of a balance due without coming accross looking like I'm trying to call them a dead beat :giggle: Yes, I have done this before. I always send a duplicate invoice and try and put the blame on me. I will state something like > Oh, I was so busy when I saw you last I beleive I forgot to bill you. (Like that'll ever happen) I am never to busy to collect deniro :whistle: Its been 6 weeks. No, I don't have his credit digits and even if I did I wouldn't wanna go that route. I would be to scared aranoia: Thanks for all the response so far. Gotta get back outside and get busy. See you all on my next break :hi:
Essentially you want to see it from their point of view. I personally don't like being put on the spot and fumbling with words when surprised by someone who calls about something that I didn't do or forgot about. It would make me embarrassed. I think a nice little memo would work well.
You could make it friendly and say that your bank had and issue or some mail was returned to senders and you are checking with everybody to make sure their payment was not lost or returned. I think most good clients won't be offended as two months is too long and they probably just forgot. I would not let more than two weeks pass.
I have to say there are creative ways to remind customers who have not paid though. Be sure to tell them you understand how busy they have been, and that they might have forgotten. Or perhaps the bill got lost, or they never received your message. Or you could tell them something along the lines of "I am sure the payment is already on the way, however, I have not received it yet so it might have gotten lost so I wanted to check in with you..."
I would say "Hey mr/dr/mrs/ms/g, I was calling to follow up with the 3 cars i detailed for you in may, how are things, was everything to your satisfaction? good im glad, i was taking a look through my books, and saw that I failed to Invoice you for the details, ahaha, i know i've been real busy, which brings me to my point, I was hoping to get you scheduled for july before my books fill up, great the 6th it is, as for the amount owed, just bring it to me then no biggie." that makes it seem like you forgot to bill, and you get more future work, and at that point you get the customer trained on bringing money with them when they get thecar detailed.
i have a ton ofpeople customers that owe me and when i call them for a payment they seem to get pissed..not sure why ...
I didnt think anyone out there was nice enough to allow credit terms lol. All the guys in my area (brick & mortar stores) are COD.
the only customers that pay me on time are the retired ones. there great at paying there bills!!! but the ones that drive the range rovers. and live on the golf course suck!! there sooo late..
I sometimes have to just call my customers and say whats up is everything going alright i just noticed that u had racked up quite a bill with me and is there anything I can do to help. Be concerned and customers will pay up pretty quick.
