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Turning off a customer and refusing to turn them back on until the wire hits the account solves all kinds of problems.

subhobroto 8y ago
Might not work in all cases. I have excellent clients who could not afford to pay for a consultation because they themselves were waiting on the client they were farming out jobs from. They still work with me because they know I understand their cashflow issues.
- notyourday 8y ago
  That's a self-created problem. It is possible to remain in business while self-creating problem. It is, however, not recommended. We once were jerked around by a reasonably well known customer. Their accounting people decided they did not need to perform under the payment terms the customer signed off on. First time they did it, I sent an email to the EVP that signed the order. We got an apology and a payment. The next month the same thing happened again - we redirected all their traffic to "We are unable to process your request - please contact your account coordinator to restore access" message and did not remove it until the wire hit our account ( 5pm-8:02am ). We received a letter with apologies from the customer's CEO, customer was saved and they never missed a payment again. I heard, via the grapevine, that three people at the customer's AP group were shown the door as the result of our message.
  - Drdrdrq 8y ago
    I admire you for taking a stand, and even more for being able to climb into a position where you could pull this off. Kudos.
- restalis 8y ago
  This really irks me. Are you my customer or are you some kind of onerous business partner so that I have to share the consequences of your business decisions? Sorry, get a bank loan and pay me, then solve the rest of your problems with your client and the bank (i.e. without me).
tonyedgecombe 8y ago
That's been my experience, just the threat of turning it off has a way of unblocking the system. I usually start with the users of the system who are often as frustrated with the system as we are. Having said that I mostly don't offer credit terms anymore, my average order value is about £500 which means it isn't worth the time spent chasing late payments. In 99% of cases the customer will find a way of paying upfront.

Might not work in all cases. I have excellent clients who could not afford to pay for a consultation because they themselves were waiting on the client they were farming out jobs from. They still work with me because they know I understand their cashflow issues.

notyourday 8y ago
That's a self-created problem. It is possible to remain in business while self-creating problem. It is, however, not recommended. We once were jerked around by a reasonably well known customer. Their accounting people decided they did not need to perform under the payment terms the customer signed off on. First time they did it, I sent an email to the EVP that signed the order. We got an apology and a payment. The next month the same thing happened again - we redirected all their traffic to "We are unable to process your request - please contact your account coordinator to restore access" message and did not remove it until the wire hit our account ( 5pm-8:02am ). We received a letter with apologies from the customer's CEO, customer was saved and they never missed a payment again. I heard, via the grapevine, that three people at the customer's AP group were shown the door as the result of our message.
- Drdrdrq 8y ago
  I admire you for taking a stand, and even more for being able to climb into a position where you could pull this off. Kudos.
restalis 8y ago
This really irks me. Are you my customer or are you some kind of onerous business partner so that I have to share the consequences of your business decisions? Sorry, get a bank loan and pay me, then solve the rest of your problems with your client and the bank (i.e. without me).

tonyedgecombe 8y ago

That's been my experience, just the threat of turning it off has a way of unblocking the system. I usually start with the users of the system who are often as frustrated with the system as we are. Having said that I mostly don't offer credit terms anymore, my average order value is about £500 which means it isn't worth the time spent chasing late payments. In 99% of cases the customer will find a way of paying upfront.