Why is your customer liquidating this Christmas?    While you are busy trying to fill the last orders of the season, have you wondered just how many of your customers are making decisions about the life and continuity of their businesses?  You may be doing all the things that are “important” this time of year.  Trying to service the big retailers, scrambling to ensure credit holds are released, orders are shipped, and ensuring your billing is running smoothly as the Christmas Season accelerates the race to the “finish line”.

At the same time you are trying to service your big box customers, many of your mom and pop customers are having conversations around the dinner table about whether it makes sense to continue another year in business or begin liquidating.    Small businesses are faced with many challenges; the economy nearing full employment, the pressures on wages and rents have never been greater, and online sales are taking a bigger share of their revenue.  For them, the Christmas season can make the difference between succeeding or liquidating.

Make sure you take enough time this busy season to assess your past due customer aging and make timely decisions about credit holds, internal collection calls and final demands.  If you follow a sound process, you will minimize the losses from companies liquidating.   As you complete your internal collection process, don’t hesitate to escalate accounts to third party collections. If you hear that a company is liquidating and they are not proactively communicating with you, it necessitates referring the customer account to collections immediately.   Time is of the essence when minimizing bad debt.  If you don’t have time to employ your internal collection processes, then don’t hesitate to contact us for assistance with precollection services through General Auditing Bureau or direct third party collections through Receivables Control.