What if you could take complete control of your restoration business finances, eliminate cash flow worries, and guarantee that you’re paid every single time?
Imagine the level-up in your confidence, your peace of mind, and your ability to focus on the big picture.
Most restoration businesses focus all their energy on generating sales (and don’t get me wrong, sales are crucial), but here’s the cold, hard truth: sales mean nothing if you don’t get paid.
Without a strong collections process in place, you’re sabotaging your own success. You’re leaving money on the table, creating unnecessary stress, and limiting the growth potential of your business.
That said, there’s some good news in all of this. You have the power to change it.
A proactive, failure-proof collections process will not only ensure you get paid on time – every time— it will fuel your cash flow, strengthen your customer relationships, and set the stage for explosive growth.
This article will give you a clear, simple 5-step process to get you paid and help you stop worrying about your cash flow, financial picture, and business bank account.
Say goodbye to financial stress, and start creating time to focus on the growth potential of your business.
Take Control of Your Financial Destiny with a Structured Collections Process
Before we get into the 5 Steps to Get Paid and Stop Worrying About Your Restoration Finances, I want to go big with you for a second.
When you’re chasing down payments or don’t have a structured collection process, you’re inherently playing defense. You’re letting someone else’s disorganization or delinquency dictate your cash flow and stress. It’s time to flip the script.
Take back control of your time and your finances. Doing so is the best time management system hack I know.
To do so, you need to understand the principles and values behind a successful collection process. It’s the key to being fully in control. I want to take a moment to highlight these principles because, without them, all the systems and spreadsheets in the world won’t save you.
The Principles Behind A Structured
Collection Process
This isn’t rocket science, trust me. But there are a few principles that you’ll notice permeate our whole process: respect, proactive action, and consistency. These principles will allow you to stop chasing the money and take control of your business.
Respect:
A solid collections process ensures every customer—no matter how big or small—is treated with the same level of professionalism. This allows you to maintain powerful strong relationships. Respect senses respect. Often, this alone is enough to ensure you get paid on time.
That said, you also need to respect your workers and yourself. Respecting yourself means asking for what you’re worth and making sure you follow up to get paid.
Respecting your workers means setting clear boundaries with them and then adhering to these boundaries. This allows for a level of clarity across your relationships that will streamline your collection and business dealings.
Don’t believe me? Just try. Start just adding a little more respect into all your business negotiations and see what happens.
Proactive Action:
Reactive businesses wait until payments are late to act. Successful businesses anticipate problems before they arise. Reaching out proactively is your shield against financial losses and your competitive edge toward industry-leading success. Doing so minimizes the time it takes to get paid and instead, payments come in more quickly and predictably. Give it a try and discover the proactive advantage.
Consistency:
Reaching out consistently builds trust in your business and boosts your professionalism. It ensures that you’re seen as a reliable partner and signals that you’re treating everyone with the same level of contact and work, no matter who they are.
When customers see you as consistent, they infer a higher level of workmanship, professionalism, and business acumen which often results in them respecting you more (see value 1) and getting you paid. Often, because customers know you’ll be checking in consistently, they’ll themselves be proactive to avoid another follow-up or invoice. By treating everyone equally and consistently, you’ll automatically level up the quality of your work and how you conduct business.
The 5 Key Components to Build an
Unstoppable Collections Process
The following steps will help you create a structured collection process that works automatically for you. Invoices are sent on time. Follow-ups happen like clockwork. Payments come in consistently. It’s your ticket to financial freedom.
Get these 5 steps right, and you’ll never worry about overdue payments again.
Set Clear Collections Policies
Clarity creates confidence. To start, you need absolute clarity—for both your team and your customers. Clear, defined collections policies are the bedrock of a successful process. Without them, you’re vulnerable to skipped and slow payments. To create clarity, you must get organized in your customer communication and expectations.
Here are the top three areas for which I’d advocate crystal clear terms:
Payment Terms: Set clear payment terms that leave zero room for confusion. Spell out due dates, acceptable payment methods, and penalties if payments are late.
Credit & Collections Policies: Define exactly how you’ll handle overdue accounts. When will you escalate a late payment? How will you do so? What happens if an account refuses to pay? Imagining the worst-case scenario and communicating it in your Statement of Terms. This rids customers of surprises and can often ward off the worst from happening.
Communication Guidelines: How will you communicate with customers about late payments? What’s your tone, frequency, and method? Map out your communication strategy ahead of time so your message is consistent and professional.
AR Pro Tip:
As you strategize, create communication templates for your most common correspondences and messages. This allows you to communicate at your best and creates an all-company consistency by having a template for language and scenarios. Stop the repetitive communication and focus on what matters.
Stay Top of Mind, Every Time with Systematic Follow-Up
Success is built on consistency. If you’re not following up consistently, you’re letting money slip away. You need a system that ensures every overdue account is followed up on time. Here’s what we recommend to include in your consistent follow-up:
Automated Reminders:
Don’t leave follow-up to chance. And don’t let your bank account depend on human initiative or falter on human error. Use automation to send regular reminders. Tools like AR Workflow make it easy to stay on top of every account without lifting a finger.
Escalation Procedures:
Not every customer will respond to a gentle nudge. That’s why you need a clear escalation process. Whether it’s escalating to a collections specialist or sending a formal demand letter, know exactly what steps to take when with company-wide codified procedures.
Personalized Follow-Up:
For high-value customers or accounts that need special attention, go beyond automation. Pick up the phone. Personalized communication shows you’re serious and can often lead to faster resolutions. That said, standardize your various levels of personalization to keep your service consistent and professional.
Whenever you begin with a new customer, take a moment to gauge what an appropriate level of personalization would be. Similarly, have templates and procedures to automate and standardize even your most personalized touch.
Leverage Technology to Work Smarter, Not Harder
Here’s the truth: if you’re not using technology to streamline your collections process, you’re wasting time, losing money, and making it harder than it should be. Embrace tools that free up your time, automate your earnings, and help you focus on what matters.
Collections Software:
Software like AR Workflow automates your invoicing, payment tracking, and follow-ups. It eliminates the risk of human error and ensures nothing falls through the cracks. It also standardizes your SOP for minimal stress and maximal success. Some tasks are worth giving to the machines. Use your genius for high-level strategy work.
Data Analytics:
Use data to your advantage. Track metrics like Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) to see how well your process is working. Gathering and analyzing gives you the insight to make informed decisions and improve your performance. Instead of hiring an expensive consultant, leverage technology to both gather data and support you in understanding it.
Payment Portals:
Make it easy for customers to pay you. An online payment portal gives customers a convenient, simple way to settle their invoices quickly. The easier it is to pay you, the happier everyone will be.
Train and Empower Your Team:
Set Team Members Up for Success
Your collections team is the backbone of your process. If they’re not trained and empowered, your process and business will suffer. Give your team the tools, knowledge, and authority they need to excel.
Here are some company-wide practices we’d recommend adding to your company procedures and culture:
Collections Training:
Regular training ensures your team stays up-to-date with the best collection practices. Support your team in becoming experts in communication, negotiation, and using your collections software. Not only will this give them a sense of pride in their work, but it’ll also level up the quality of their work and the rate of your collections.
Clear Roles & Responsibilities:
Every member of your team should know exactly what they’re responsible for. Who handles follow-ups? Who escalates cases? Who reports to whom? Clarity eliminates confusion and ensures every account is handled properly.
Empower Your Employees:
Resist the urge to micromanage. Instead, empower your team to make decisions within set limits. This speeds up the process and builds confidence in their ability to resolve issues. Celebrate their wins and offer compassionate feedback when necessary. A high-trust team is a high-functioning team.
Stay Customer-Centric:
Collect Payments, Preserve Relationships
Let me tell you something: your goal is to get paid, but never at the cost of damaging a valuable customer relationship. You can collect your money and preserve the relationship at the same time—it all comes down to how you handle it. Here are three winning strategies to both get paid and keep your customers pleased:
Prioritize Respectful Communication:
Always approach collections with professionalism and empathy. Be firm, but respectful. Aim to find a third way or creative compromise that allows both parties to get their needs met.
Offer Payment Options:
If a customer is struggling financially, be flexible. Offering payment plans or alternative methods can keep the relationship intact while ensuring you still get paid. Channel and offer the same level of compassion you would hope a customer or business partner would offer you in challenging times.
Dispute Resolution:
When disputes arise, resolve them quickly and professionally. Don’t let small issues become big problems. The faster you resolve disputes, the smaller they stay, and the quicker you get paid. Being able to calmly and professionally manage disputes with your customers gets you paid and preserves the relationship.
Keep Improving:
Monitor, Refine, and Improve
Your Collections Process
Building a strong collections process isn’t a one-time project—it’s an ongoing commitment. The best businesses continually review and refine their processes to ensure they’re always working at peak efficiency.
Here are three processes we’d encourage you to implement once you’ve standardized your collection process:
Performance Reviews:
Schedule regular reviews of your collections process. How are you and your team performing? Metrics like Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) and collection success rates will show you exactly where you stand.
Customer Feedback:
Don’t be afraid to ask your customers for feedback on the collections process. Their insights will help you refine your approach and improve your experience without compromising your cash flow.
Process Refinement:
Use the data you collect to refine and improve your process. If something isn’t working, change it. The more you improve, the stronger your collection process becomes.
AR Pro Tip:
Set aside time on the last Friday of every month to review, understand, and iterate on your processes. This will help you improve without disrupting your flow or business.
Why Change:
The Benefits of a Streamlined Collections Process
When you implement a collections process that works, you’re setting the foundation to transform your business for long-term success. Here are some of the tangible results of standardizing and professionalizing your collections process:
Consistent Cash Flow. Getting paid on time allows for a steady, predictable cash flow. This consistency gives you the confidence to invest in growth, offering you both the bandwidth and funds to expand your operations and seize new business opportunities. Standardize cash flow and transform income from a stressor to a strength. You’ll see the difference.
Reduced Bad Debt
Bad debt can cripple a restoration business, but a proactive collections process can minimize your bad debt and protect your bottom line. Being proactive allows you to catch problems early and address them before they become uncollectible.
Stronger Customer Relationships
Respectful, professional collections show your customers that you value the relationship, even when payments are late. By staying customer-centric, you will build a customer fanbase and a level of loyalty that will translate into repeat business, a strong fan base, and enhanced long-term success.
Long-Term Financial Stability
It's the holy grail of running your own business. With steady cash flow and minimal bad debt, you’ll become financially stable. This stability will then give you the freedom to make bold, strategic moves to take your business to new heights.
New systems can sometimes be disruptive or scary. That said, this change is worth it. Give it a try.
Leverage AR Workflow to
Supercharge Your Collections Process
While there are many tools and paths to success, we’ve worked hard to develop AR Workflow for Restoration Businesses and entrepreneurs like you.
This powerful tool automates your invoicing follow-ups, and payment tracking—ensuring your collections process is efficient, effective, and always running at peak performance.
Here are some of the highlights of AR Workflow:
- Automation:
Optimize routine tasks like invoicing reminders with our customizable automation to free you up to focus on growing your business.
- Real-Time Insights:
Always have a real-time view of your collections performance with our industry-fueled analytics processor. Make data-driven decisions and refine your process.
- Customization and Flexibility:
Every business is unique. Customize workflows and communication strategies to fit your specific needs and growth opportunities.
If you’re curious about bringing the ease of automation, insights, and customized workflows to your business, we welcome you to Try AR Workflow with our free 14-day trial.
Just connect your QuickBooks account and start sending out automated payment reminders immediately. Companies collect an average of 25+ overdue payments during the free trial.
You can always go back, but we challenge you to see if your business won’t be changed with this incredible tool we’ve developed just for restoration professionals.
Take Control, Get Paid, and Fuel Your
Restoration Business’s Future
Let’s get real: the time for reactive collections is over. Take control of your business, eliminate financial stress, and supercharge your growth. Start building a rock-solid collection process that works for you, your customers, and the future of your business. Long-term success, consistent cash flow, and growth without limits await.
All you have to do is say yes to a proactive, structured collections process.
Your future starts today. Start collecting on it.
