We find that many US companies don’t have a solid process built around collecting from their foreign customers. There are many reasons they struggle in this area. Language barriers and time differences can be impediments to reaching people abroad and when it comes to cultures, sometimes its difficult to know just what kind of “collection touch” is necessary.

To combat all these issues, some companies rely on their company staff located in those foreign countries to collect their AR. This often results in inconsistency. Some staff abroad is effectively collecting and other times you end up wondering if your staff is even engaged and making an effort. It’s important to remember that cultural differences, time zones, and languages, aren’t your real concerns; the larger issues impacting foreign AR are the same issues that may be present in your US AR: credit risk, billing issues, quality issues, delivery issues, etc. These problems are likely to be at the root of any dilution you experience. Identifying and resolving these issues requires personal communication and once issues are identified you have to take corrective action internally to solve billing, quality, delivery issues, etc.

Over several decades, Receivables Control has built a staff of experts that collect foreign receivables. Our experience reaches every corner of the globe, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, South America, Asia, and Australia. We have the resources to reach customers and establish the two-way communication necessary to get to the root cause of the delinquency and recover your money. For tougher cases, if in-house efforts won’t generate recoveries, we engage our network of local resources to make visits and litigate.

If you suspect your foreign counterparts aren’t up to the task or if your company lacks the resources at home and abroad to implement a reliable collection strategy, then don’t hesitate to involve the experts at Receivables Control. We can even help you with strategies to minimize your bad debt risk.