Your Delinquent Customer is an F.O.B.
Your customer is an F.O.B. … a Friend Of the Boss.
AND … he’s also a late-pay.
You dial his number but before you’ve even gotten to the part where you tell him he’s way past 30 days, he whips out the Friendship Card and slaps it on the table.
“Yeah, we talked about that the other day,” he tells you. He goes on to say that he and your boss reached an understanding while playing Texas Hold ‘Em or 7-Card Stud or whatever it was. Of course he’s going to pay the invoice … soon. Really, really soon. You can bet on it!
Where’s that leave you? Stuck holding a rotten hand! Unless …
Consider this approach suggested by Tim Paulsen, a Collection Management speaker, author, trainer and consultant in Canada. In his blog he writes:
How about this for a response: “I have spoken to [the boss] about your account and in fact he has coded it as special relationship status, you must be a good friend of his. What that means is that our regular terms of payment are 30 days, but we ask our ‘friends’ if they would be willing to pay a bit sooner, perhaps within 20 days. Would that work for you?”
Talk about playing the Friendship Card! Back ‘atcha buddy! In all likelihood, your customer will immediately see the error of his perspective, recognizing that he’s taking advantage of his relationship with his friend. This approach does him a favor when you think about it. If he’ll recalibrate his thinking, he may save himself from a future fall-out with your boss!
Before you respond to an F.O.B. customer in this manner, Mr. Paulsen adds this caution: “Check with your boss first.” It could be that they did indeed reach a vague agreement and maybe in this case, it’s okay with your boss to let this particular invoice drag on. It’s his choice. Just make sure you note it in the client file.
What do you think of this approach? Would you use it?