Published on Jul 22, 2019

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Cash flow is the life blood of any business, it needs to keep flowing or the business dies. It is estimated that Australian small businesses are currently owed $26 billion dollars. But what can you do to get your overdue accounts paid?

 

Apps are a low cost way to improve small business processes

 

 

Well there’s an app for everything these days. The debt recovery app CollectMORE has recently been named Money Magazine’s July 2019 App of the Month and it’s an affordable option for small business owners or sole traders. The app comes in a free ‘lite’ version and an inexpensive full version.

The way it works

You download the app onto your smartphone from the usual places. It analyses the debt and provides you with a specialised and unique action plan designed to get results. There are eight different email and SMS templates for you to send to your customer requesting payment. The app recommends the best template for you to use.

 

The app can be used for recovering old debts or as soon as an invoice or debt becomes overdue. The templates included are all different, with differing urgency and underlying tones. They range from a very friendly reminder to a stern demand. There is even an olive branch style, perfect for reaching out to those customers who may be doing it tough.

 

The beauty of the app is that not only does it tell small business owners exactly what to do to get paid, it contacts the customer for them. At the same time it teaches them methods and techniques to avoid it happening again.

 

While CollectMORE don’t guarantee results, they do boast some impressive collection rates. The full version also has a ‘prevent a debt’ section that you might find helpful. At the end of the day it will work out cheaper than getting your lawyer or a debt collection agency involved, and it may save you having to.

Other useful links

Business.gov.au website what to do when you haven’t been paid

Joint ACCC and ASIC guide – Debt collection guidelines for collectors & creditors

ASIC Business Checks app on iTunes and Google Play which helps you ask the right questions and reduce risks when dealing with businesses.

 

Keep your over due accounts to a minimum, revisit this ACC article on debt collection for some useful tips.

 

Disclaimer: Neither Advance Cessnock City nor Cessnock City Council has any financial relationship with the product in this article, nor receives any benefit actual or in-kind from them. This is an information service that may benefit small business owners in the Cessnock Local Government Area. If you have found a product or service that may have a wide appeal to our small business owners’ email us on economic.development@cessnock.nsw.gov.au and we may use it for the basis of a future article.