Running an internal debt collection campaign is essential for getting the money back that your company is rightly owed. While it is important to design your debt collection campaign to effectively reach out to clients quickly after an invoice goes unpaid, knowing what to do after your call, email or letter will help drive success.

Here are the top four most common responses businesses receive from their debt collection efforts:

Prompt payment
This is the ideal scenario. Sometimes a missed invoice is a mistake within the accounting department or the result of an employee being on vacation. If the client promptly pays after you reach out to them on a past-due invoice, always verify the following:

• The best point of contact’s name, email address and phone number
• Their preferred mode of contact for invoices (email v. mail)

Acknowledgement, with actionable response
This is the next preferred scenario after you contact a client concerning delinquency. When a client acknowledges that they are late on their payment and confirms a date they can pay their invoice, as a company you should follow-up to confirm:

• Method of payment
• If they have all of the essential information to pay (routing number, company address, etc.)
• Reason for late payment. Gathering as much information as possible for your records is important should the delinquency happen again.

Acknowledgement, but no actionable response
In this scenario, the client is aware that are late on their invoice, but does not confirm or offer a date for payment. Always reach out to the client because he or she could have forgotten to include that information in their communication with you; or they could be waiting on someone within their business to confirm a date of payment. Whatever the case may be, it is your goal to get a date set with the client. The probability of receiving payment drastically increases when you can commit the client to a specific date or payment plan.

No response
If you receive no response from a phone call, email or mailing, there may be several reasons for this.

• You may not be contacting the correct person.
• The client has a cash flow problem and has yet to find a solution. They are simply trying to avoid communication with you.
• The client is unwilling to pay the invoice and is trying to avoid you.

With any delinquent invoice, you should always follow the bad business debt timeline, which features a series of phone calls, letters and emails to engage with the client. You can find the full timeline here: http://c2cresourcesblog.com/c2c-resources-commercial-debt-collection-agency/bad-business-debt-timeline/.