Credit guru Thea Dudley has spent more than 30 years in LBM credit management. Now she’s here to answer your credit and collection questions. Got a question for her mailbag? Contact Thea attheadudley@charter.net
Dear Thea,
What do you say to a customer who refuses to give you an actual pay date, but keeps saying over and over again, “Have I ever not paid you?” What I want to say will get me fired.
Signed, Biting My Tongue in Buffalo
Dear Tongue Biter:
If half the stuff I think in my head came out of my mouth when I’m talking to people, I would be:
- Fired
- Friendless
- Excommunicated from the church
- Divorced
I usually have two conversations going at any given time: The one in my head that is for my own amusement and the actual dialogue that keeps any of the above things from becoming my reality.
I am sure you would really like to respond to “have I ever not paid you” with a, “Well, yes, that is the point of this phone call. I have not been paid. I want to get paid and you aren’t giving me much to go on.” The stellar response of some vague date in the future while they get their proverbial poop in a group translates to a never ending payment story, in my world.
So, “have I ever not paid you” just feels like gasoline on a fire as they want you to “trust them” until some defined amount of time in which they can get you paid. Well, pumpkin, everyone pays you – until they don’t. You already “trusted” the customer when you gave them a credit line, so your “trust” is stretched a bit thin at this time.
Now, how to respond? Is it too much to expect for said customer to come up with a plan? Yes, yes, dear Tongue Biter, it is. Take the reins on this situation and set the tone. You will have to bring the solutions. Give them a date. Can they have you paid in full by XX date? What about a payment plan? Can they do a set amount each week, bi-weekly, whatever time period you can live with until they hit their payday and can finish cleaning up the account?
Do not allow someone else’s lack of ability to make a commitment or decision become the controlling factor here. The customer’s lack of commitment doesn’t mean you can’t make one. Set the date it needs to be cleaned up by or, at the very least, keeps payments coming in on a steady, albeit painful and labor-intensive, basis until you are paid up.
If they give a payment date in the future, it is usually several weeks out. It’s far enough out to irritate your sanity, but close enough that it makes putting off further collection action attractive. Yep, they’re just keeping hope alive. We have all been there. We want to believe, but in the end you may have draw your line in the sand and that’s it. Move on. Unless they can come up with actual money and plans, move forward.
Life is too short for you to invest your company’s time, resources, and efforts into an account that isn’t willing to do the same. So, stop biting that tongue and say what you need to say. Just put some sugar on it. Everyone, sing it together: “A spoonful of sugar helps the payment plan go down, the payment go down, payment plan go down!” Yes, that is from Mary Poppins, because that is how credit people roll.
