Small businesses are particularly at risk when it comes to unpaid debts. Even just a couple of late payments could put your business in a difficult situation, and as a result, it is essential that you take an active role in debt recovery. The process of debt recovery can be challenging and time-consuming, but unfortunately, for small businesses, a vital part of succeeding. While larger companies can afford to swallow losses, SMEs often simply do not have the money to ensure proper cash flow while carrying even smaller amounts of unpaid debt.
How is debt collection different for small and medium enterprises?
One of the most important differences to recognise in debt recovery for small to medium sized businesses is the importance of individual debts. Within large organisations, smaller debts may not be the focus of recovery strategy, and they will often focus on issues relating to large clients (such as insolvency or restructuring) or particular markets which may be struggling.
On the other hand, small business debt recovery often means chasing sums of money which may not seem like much but are absolutely essential to the smooth running of the business they are owed to. Each and every unpaid debt has a negative effect on cash flow, which in turn will have a knock-on effect on your supply chain, required payments or employee wages. As you may know, even a single unpaid invoice can have severe consequences for your business to it is essential that you are fully aware of what is available to you to help you deal with debt recovery efficiently and effectively.
It can be concerning to think that you may need to resort to professional debt recovery to get what is owed to you, but we are here to help. We work with many businesses facing financial difficulty as a result of unpaid debts and can help you understand when it is appropriate to escalate your claim.
You should contact the person or business who owes you money (the debtor) as soon as possible after they have failed in their obligation to pay. In our experience, the longer you wait, the less likely they are to honour the agreement.
Make sure to set out clear terms of payment in your invoices. While this may not help you with existing debts, it can help ensure that payment is made promptly in future and support you when contacting any future debtors.
Where you have made attempts to recover the debt yourself and been unsuccessful, the next step would be to contact a specialist debt recovery lawyer. Here at Yuill + Kyle, we can create a strategy based on your specific needs and circumstances. We can assist by taking pre-action such as sending a letter, email or text message to the debtor - this is often enough to prompt payment. Where our pre-sue action is not enough, we can proceed to court action. We will always advise in the best interests of your business and will only take court action where it makes financial sense to do so.
Contact Yuill + Kyle debt recovery specialists
If you need advice or assistance in recovering debt, we can help.
Recovering money that is owed to you is vital to the health of your business, but retrieving outstanding debt can feel like a daunting task. Repetitive letters, ignored phone calls, awkward conversations, sound familiar? With over 100 years of experience, we are specialists in the art of resolving disputed and undisputed debts. To discuss your specific needs with a member of our team, call us today on 0141 331 2332 or complete our online enquiry form and we will get back to you right away.