If you’re in two minds as to whether to hire a credit controller or outsource your credit control to a third party because of resourcing this project, then let’s help make the decision easier for you.
Credit Control and Cashflow
The credit-control function’s effectiveness is critical to the financial health and stability of any company that operates on credit terms. Whether you have a professional staff in place or credit management is handled by the company’s owners/directors, the need for credit control remains the same. Customers are unlikely to pay your invoices on time if you don’t have a reliable and efficient system in place, which could result in higher costs, cash flow concerns, and missed possibilities for growth.
While there is a range of methods and strategies that firms may use to improve their internal processes, outsourcing the entire job to a specialised agency can be significantly more cost-effective, efficient, and straightforward for many. The trick is to be able to recognise when is the right time for your business in your process and with your customers.
Outsourcing credit control is a similar decision to outsourcing your payroll, HR, marketing, or IT. The upside for your business will be to gain access to increased expertise, improve your cashflow, and get the problem of unpaid invoices off your desk.
Outsource your credit control process
While credit control outsourcing can benefit a wide spectrum of businesses, there are three strong signs that you should consider |
Here are our top tips for when and how to make the decision to outsource your credit control process to a specialist team like Shergroup Collections.
Question #1 | Do your customers regularly pay late – or not at all?
This is one of the main reasons which should be ringing an alarm bell with you about why you need to outsource your credit control. Customers who don’t pay on time need to be managed in a process to make the payment. You want to be in control of this conversation and develop customer behaviour, so customers understand your expectations when it comes to paying you within your terms of business.
That said, credit control is an underrated business skill in our opinion. Talking to customers and getting them to part with their cash needs tact, diplomacy and a firm hand on the tiller! Some customers will do their utmost to avoid paying you until they absolutely have to which is annoying – but many businesses have the same issue so take heart – you are not alone.
Excuses on why not to pay you to need to be captured and a good credit controller will build a sub-process to deal with each type of objection. There may not be that many – but you will know from your own experience the responses that crop up – and with our credit control process, we design the response so we clear it out of the way so payment can be made.
Instead of you investing time and money in people and systems, an outsourced service takes care of your process, and it can be adapted so it works for your business. An outsourced credit control service such as Shergroup Collections has the staff and the systems already in place so it really is a turn-key solution for you. All you have to do is supply the data! And because we work on a NO COLLECT NO FEE basis you can send us your information when you have it – and not worry about the cost of employing someone all year round.
Question 2 | How much time are you devoting to collecting your cash?
Just ask yourself, how much time are you spending as a business owner collecting in your own cash? Tot up the hours and think about how you could use that time to find new business!
When you outsource a process like credit control – you are turning the cost of doing business into an opportunity to get more business.
As it is credit control is a game of patience and process. You must have better things to do with your time, like getting a new customer, developing your social media, and responding to new business enquiries. Credit control is a process that can carry on in the background while you are tackling your growth challenges. Credit control doesn’t move you forward, but it does get in the cash. By outsourcing this function, you can have the best of both – cash flowing, and sales growing!
Question 3 | What happens if your credit controller leaves?
As a business owner, the pandemic will have reminded you to build resilience into all your business’s key roles so that you are never left in the lurch with someone not being at their desk or being too ill to come to work, or just stuck at home on lockdown.
Outsourcing credit control means the problem of keeping the process going through any change, including holidays and sickness, is with the outsourcer – and you end up with a full year of service.
This is certainly how we deliver our service at Shergroup Collections. Our credit control function works all year long except for public holidays which means our clients don’t have to worry about sick pay, holiday pay, or paying pension contributions.
Instead, they pay our commission on what we collect, and we encourage them to pass this cost on to their customers through their Terms of Business. We can provide a solution to update terms of business, so this cost is passed on.
The long and short of it is that if your credit controller leaves and you decide to go down the outsourcing route, you have resilience built into your process.
You can build into your conversations with customers that credit control is something you outsource and the way to avoid getting tangled up in anything tricky is to pay you on time. It’s a grown-up conversation that many business people will understand.
Question 4 | Is outsourcing the credit control function right for my business?
If your business works on credit terms, then it’s almost certainly going to be a good choice for you. Here are some situations which may apply to your business when it comes to making this all-important decision |
My business is complex and so are my sales ledgers |
OK – so keeping track of the sales ledger can be challenging for large complex businesses, so you need to have a robust credit control process in place.
When you outsource you get the advantages of scale and cutting the overhead of maintaining a large team. The relationship with your outsourcer should be backed by a Service Level Agreement for added peace of mind.
My business isn’t big enough for an FT credit controller |
OK – so maybe you are not concentrating on credit control as much as you should because the business is smaller. But in our view, you could be missing out on getting your cash in efficiently. Outsourcing the function not only frees up time for other activities and business growth but also ensures that it receives the attention it needs to reduce late payments and increase performance.
My business is growing almost too fast for credit control |
That’s good to hear – your business is growing – so all the more reason to put systems in place before you’re overwhelmed with unpaid invoices!
You can present Shergroup Collections with a number of invoices to process, and these will be loaded and actioned in hours rather than days and weeks. You can put the task of doing this on our desk and we will rise to the challenge!
My business is brand new |
All the more reason to get a plan in place for credit control – and you can do this in a day by outsourcing this key function of your new startup.
It’s a great time to do it because your customers know from the get-go that you have a process to help them make their payments on time. Position credit control as a backup system for customers in their reminder systems – they like that – and they see it as all part of your service to them.
Don’t let the pressing priorities of getting customers and building your operation get in the way of collecting in your cash. A good customer is one who pays and pays on time.
Why Choose Shergroup Collections as your credit control partner? |
Shergroup Collections was founded in 1995 and has a track record of being able to collect in challenging and old ledger balances from a variety of industry sectors.
With its heritage as Sheriffs in its back pocket the credit control team members know how to use the possibility of escalating debt to legal and beyond into enforcement if a customer tries to evade payment. Tough debts are our speciality.
But so are new debts, and new customers – and the whole point in outsourcing is to get the service you need. We can demonstrate experience, accreditations (we are FCA regulated where necessary and through our legal and enforcement divisions are members of the Law Society and High Court Enforcement Officers Association).
Our positive google reviews and internet presence confirm we are a safe pair of hands – and as one of our client communities recently said – we provide a “reassuring service”. That’s a great word to use about Shergroup – it’s been a well-respected brand in the credit industry for a quarter of a century and continues to innovate and develop its solutions for the benefit of its client community.
Our service to your business can be tailored to fit your operational requirements including taking on invoices, reporting to you, remitting funds and escalating to legal proceedings if that becomes necessary.
And we provide each and every Shergroup client with a friendly and professional Business Solutions Advisor who takes the time to understand your business and what you need so that the whole outsourcing experience is both positive and proactive.
Summing Up
No matter what the size or type of business you’re running, keeping your cash flowing is fundamental. Shergroup Collections can add value to your business as an outsourced credit control partner. With a focus on B2B debt, our focus is to assist businesses in getting paid faster and improving their operations while offering a professional and high-quality service that delivers value to your business.
So, if you’d like to know more about our cashflow solution, please contact us and let’s have a chat about how we can help you move your credit control function into an outsourced model.
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