Recovery is what happens when credit control hasn't. That's not a criticism — every business carries overdue accounts — but it's a useful reminder that most of the cost of late payment is preventable. The practices below are ordinary and effective. Applied consistently, they keep a ledger young.
Decide who you extend credit to
Credit is something you grant, not a default setting. For any account of real size, a short credit check and a signed set of terms before you begin work is simple prudence. Knowing who you're dealing with — the correct legal entity, its trading history, whether a personal guarantee is appropriate — is far easier to establish at the start than after an account has gone bad.
Put your terms of trade in writing
Clear written terms remove ambiguity and give any future recovery a firm foundation. Good terms state when payment is due, what happens if it's late, whether interest or recovery costs apply, and how disputes are handled — in plain language, provided before work begins and, ideally, acknowledged in writing. A recovery built on signed terms stands on far firmer ground than one built on an invoice and an assumption.
Invoice immediately and clearly
The clock on every payment term starts only when the invoice arrives. An invoice sent the day work is finished is paid sooner than one sent at month-end. Make it unambiguous: a clear due date ("payment due within 14 days of invoice date" leaves nothing to interpret), an itemised description, and your payment methods on the face of it.
Confirm receipt, then remind early
A short message confirming an invoice has been received removes the most common excuse for non-payment — and tells you immediately if it went to the wrong place. After that, a polite reminder a few days after the due date is normal business practice, not an imposition. Sending it early keeps an account from quietly ageing while everyone assumes someone else is handling it.
Make paying you easy
Every point of friction in paying you is a reason to delay. Multiple payment methods, clear bank details, and the ability to pay online all measurably shorten the time to payment. If paying you takes effort, it moves down the queue.
Escalate on a fixed schedule
Decide in advance when an account moves from reminder, to second reminder, to formal demand, to recovery — and apply it the same way to every account. Predictability is what keeps receivables young: debtors learn quickly which suppliers follow up consistently and which let things slide. A fixed schedule also takes the awkward judgement call out of each individual account.
Know when to hand it over
In-house follow-up has a natural ceiling. When an account has gone quiet, is consuming disproportionate time, or has aged past 60–90 days despite structured reminders, it has usually reached the point where a specialist will do better — and where the opportunity cost of chasing it yourself outweighs the saving. Handing it over is an allocation decision, not an admission of failure.