The most satisfactory way to deal with this is by putting preventative measures in place to prevent it from happening!
Prevention
From the outset, you need to let your clients know the cost of your services and when you expect to be paid in clear and easy to understand terms to help to avoid misunderstandings.
In addition your invoice should clearly indicate the payment period.
If you become aware that your client is experiencing financial difficulties, you could suggest less frequent appointments or bulk-billing if it’s appropriate.
Requesting payment
Asking for payment can be awkward, but it’s best to deal with it step by step and gradually escalate efforts rather than waiting until there is a large debt and resorting to an extreme solution.
Set up a process to remind clients about their outstanding bills. This could be by a phone call or an email from your admin team remindi ng them to pay their bill.
If this is not successful, the next step is to contact the client personally by phone to discuss the reason for non-payment. You could look at ways to support them if they are having difficulties. This could be a difficult conversation for the client so it’s best that you handle this so they can be assured of your confidentiality and your genuine concern.
At this stage you may want to look at flexible repayment plans so the client can gradually pay you.
The second to last resort, if the debt is a substantial amount, is to use a debt collection agency. Before taking this step let the client know you are planning to do this so they have a last chance to mke the payment.
Check with a reputable debt collection agency about their fees and their way of going about the collection.
Finally, you could take legal action. This is something that you would consider only if the debt is a very significant amount as it would be both expensive and time consuming for both you and the client.
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