Is your credit controlling you or are you controlling it?

There is only one thing worse than having no work - and that is having lots of work, but not being paid for it! To minimise the risk of this happening to you, you should take the following credit control precautions.

You should know the financial strength of the company you are doing business with or proposing to do business with. This is a good indication as to whether or not you are likely to be paid on time or even be paid at all! use of a good credit checking service will help you with this.

There must be proof that the customer to whom you supplied your goods or service actually placed an order with you. In an ideal world there will be a signed order, or a purchase order form the customer to you for purchase of the goods or service. In today’s “I want it now” society, getting a signed order is not always possible. An e-mail, Fax or letter from the customer to you or from you to the customer is just as good. The important thing is you must be able to demonstrate that an order has been placed.

You must always ensure that your customer is aware of your terms of business or sale before they do business with you. Including your terms of business on the back of your invoice is a good way of re-enforcing your terms, but, it cannot be your only method of hi-lighting your terms.

Always ensure that the details on your invoices are accurate, since inaccuracies will damage your credibility and will be used by the customer as an excuse for delaying payment. Please our website to see the rest of this article.