Good Business Tips: Know Your Customer
Running a business can be hard. A lot of the time it is necessary to hire a debt collection agency for help collecting money that is owed. However, if companies take a position of prevention, they may not require using the assistance of a third party collections agency. Knowing the client or customer can be extremely useful for filtering out potential problems.
First, a business should find out the full legal name of the company that it plans to do business with. The business structure should be known. Is it a corporation or a partnership? The names, addresses and titles of the principal members should be collected.
It is key to find out the federal employer tax identification number. The telephone number, ship to address, name, fax number and email address of the main contact should be established as well. Also, the bill to address, fax number and telephone number of the accounts payable contact is a useful piece of information to know. Individuals authorized to submit orders should be listed.
Ask about bank references. Find out what the bank’s name is. The branch address, fax and telephone numbers, account types, account numbers and dates opened can be useful information. The name of the bank representative should be also be collected.
Finally, the terms and conditions of sale must be accepted and acknowledged by the client’s signature. The client’s signature, printed name, date of signing and title should be collected, and it is crucial to have the company’s lawyer look over any documents before use.
Know the customer’s credit history and keep good communication via phone calls or personal visits. Keep a timely delivery of goods and services, and up to date records and accounts receivable information. Send out memos and letters to remind the client about the money owed and keep them up to date.
Join an industry credit group and actively participate. It is important to know the laws in the state where the company is doing business regarding collections and business proposals. To protect the integrity of the company, be sure to collect references. Bank references, including the bank name, branch, account type, account number and trade references are important to know. Collect at least three trade references that include the name, address, telephone number and email addresses.
Mallory Megan works for a debt collection agency. Also she composes pieces about business, finance, consumer spending and debt collection.
