Sales Tip: How to handle a customer who has fallen behind in payments
One week behind can be too far behind. But once it gets to be two or three weeks, it’s time to become firm with your customer, says Contributing Writer Phil Sasso. Your first goal is to increase his weekly payment, not stretch it out more. If you can’t do that, you need to keep a short leash of weeks.
What if you can’t come to an agreement or he fails to honor his agreement? It’s time to repossess the tool. It’s awkward, but don’t be embarrassed. It’s not your fault.
Avoid being rude or angry. It’s not likely he started out not planning to pay you back. Just explain in a business-like tone that you need the tool back. A good strategy is to offer to hold the tool for a couple weeks until he can get together the cash to pay you in full. That may make it less awkward.
You may want to repossess the tool in his bay, or follow him to his bay to get it. I’ve heard a horror story or two about a disgruntled customer breaking a tool before returning it.
If he can’t come through on time, sell the used tool to someone else for at least what he owes. He can always buy another new tool -- cash upfront.
Once you’ve been down this road, I don’t think I need to tell you that he becomes a cash-only customer for a long, long time to come.
