Successful Debt Recovery – 8 Effective Tips

20th July 2021

Outstanding debts create a stressful situation and trying to figure out the best successful debt recovery methods adds to this.

When someone owes you money, it is important to note that the best way to get a successful debt recovery is to instruct a professional collection agency.

At DCBL, we act in the utmost professional and effective manner, ensuring we do not jeopardise client relationships.

We are industry experts and collect money that is owed to you in a much shorter time period than our competitors.

Our debt collection service is cost-effective, ensuring that there is no damage to your cash flow following the owing of your money.

Should you wish to attempt recovering debts internally, it is worth reading our 8 top tips on successful debt recovery.

This advice will increase your chances of achieving a successful debt recovery whilst taking some of the stress out of a difficult situation.

1. Plan Ahead For Debt Recovery Methods

Every business should have a clear plan of what they are going to do when a situation like this arises. You should implement this before you discuss the debt with the debtor, and way before the debt recovery process.

It is no secret that choosing the best debt recovery methods to ensure success can be a challenging bridge to cross, especially with the stress being owed money can cause.

From the initial debtor conversation, to how long you expect the process to take, you need to outline the steps involved. It is unfortunate that the process of conducting debt recovery internally can result in a time-consuming process.

Recent studies from Tide revealed that up to 1.5 hours a day are spent chasing late payments by the average SME. This means that around one day a week is lost, which should be spent on the growth of the business.

Planning ahead means you’ll need to collect as much information relating to the debt, your debtor, and the circumstances as possible.

This should include the basics, such as:

• Debtor’s name
• Debtor’s current address, and previous addresses if possible
• How much is owed
• The terms of the sale and the services/products provided
• Original payment date, length of time that the debt has been owed

You should also gather any appropriate documentation together, such as unpaid invoices, contracts, payment terms, payment plans, etc.

This will assist if you do not know the best debt recovery methods to undertake in-house and need to take this higher.

2. Document As Much As Possible

As mentioned previously, having the right documentation during the commercial debt recovery process is essential.

The purpose of collating this documentation is to prove that someone owes you money, should you have to escalate this to a collection agency.

Evidently, you will need to continue collecting further correspondence with the debtor until the matter is solved.

Keeping as up-to-date as possible is key to pushing toward successful debt recovery.

3. Communication

When discussing the money owed with your debtor, all communication (written or spoken) should be clear and understandable.

Open-ended questions are likely to lead to more information being offered by the debtor, which will further help your case.

You should speak professionally and be aware of your tone of voice and the speed at which you speak. Ultimately, you don’t want to confuse the debtor or escalate the situation.

4. Remain Level-Headed

Having money owed to you can be a stressful situation and you’ll probably be upset or anxious. However, these emotions should be put aside to focus on the steps ahead and the process of collecting your money.

Avoid confrontation or manipulative language when speaking to the debtor, trying to maintain a formal yet pleasant tone. This is even more significant if you want to avoid jeopardising the relationship with them.

A successful debt recovery agency, such as DCBL, will emphasize protecting client relationships throughout the recovery process.

5. Check Contracts and Terms & Conditions

During the debt recovery process, having to check your contracts may be a step that you probably wouldn’t think too much about.

Investigating the terms and conditions within your contracts can make the process easier if this happens again.

Looking through these should give you a better indication of what you need to change for future consumers.

For example, you may want to state how soon you expect them to pay and what will happen if you do not get payment, such as instructing a debt collection agency like DCBL.

6. Choose The Best Agency For Successful Debt Recovery

If you have applied these techniques but failed to produce a successful debt recovery result, the next step is to contact a professional agency.

There are hundreds of debt collectors in the United Kingdom and it can be a challenge to find the right debt recovery service for you.

Some may only offer the bare minimum, whilst others will help with parts of the whole process including, for example, helping to serve a letter before action.

DCBL is the market leader in debt collection, with a 98% client retention rate and a dedicated team of debt recovery specialists.

7. Act Quickly

It is important to instruct DCBL at the earliest instance to improve your chances of successful debt recovery.

Often, the internal recovery of a debt means that you waste valuable time as a result of unsuccessful attempts to collect the debt.

This period of time will affect the retrievability of the debt, meaning the agency may miss the opportunity for resolution.

8. When Instructing DCBL, Have Information Ready

As mentioned earlier, having as much information on hand will increase the likelihood of achieving a successful debt recovery.

DCBL will need information such as the debtor’s name, address, the amount owed, and proof of the debt before we can start the process.

We can handle the entire debt recovery process from start to finish, which will alleviate a lot of the stress involved with these situations.

This includes advancing any cases, where necessary, over to our sister company, DCB Legal, letting you focus on doing what you do best – your job!

DCB Legal can assist in any matters related to legal action or legal proceedings in the county court.

We use the most effective debt collection strategies, with fixed fees, to ensure that you get your money back as affordably as possible.

Get in touch with DCBL today to kickstart the process and get your money back.