Why Is It So Uncomfortable For Many to Collect Past Due Receivables?
I have felt this pain myself and have considered its source and reasons and have come to the following conclusion:
It is all about NOT being emotionally self-sufficient, meaning, we frequently allow the emotions of others to dictate how we act. We do not want people to dislike us (or, better stated, we want people to like us) and if we sense that collecting a receivable may be uncomfortable for the person we are collecting from, and if we allow this to interfere with our business process, we are allowing this emotion to interfere with our success. This causes our businesses to experience real pain—cash flow pain—but we are all more concerned about whether or not people like us and therefore, rather than risk alienating we accept late payments. This does not work at all.
It is important to get over this hurdle; if it is controlling you in this situation it is going to control you in other situations and it is an issue you must get in front of if you are to be successful. There is no room for emotional dependence in the business arena. We can, and will, care about the other person but we cannot let it control us.We must make decisions based on legitimate business principles not emotional needs. It’s worth noting, hiring and firing is another area where emotional self-sufficiency must be developed and practiced to avoid costly mistakes.
Furthermore, if there is risk in losing a client because you asked him to pay an invoice for goods or services he received, then this is not a client or customer you should value and the sooner you remove them the better you are. Payment occurs if a client is satisfied with the goods and services. If they are not satisfied, they should not pay and you should deal with this problem. If the bill is not paid because the customer is simply taking advantage of you and you are letting him by not holding him to his commitment, then what is the point of valuing this relationship as it is built on disrespect? Why ship if you are not going to be paid as agreed? Business must be a two-way street, not all for one and none for the other.
In short, you’ve built and delivered the item, or you’ve provided the service; for a client to not pay you is the same as stealing your time, effort, expertise and product. You still had to pay the overhead and then for the product or service. Why would you condone this and continue to work for a person who treats you in this manner? Beats me. There is no respect there.
You need to stop this bad practice, even if it means losing “good” clients who pay very late; they are not good clients. Collect your receivables on time or cease to do business with these abusers. Otherwise you’ll soon find yourself out of business.
