Doug Emerson,The Profitable Horseman

From the  Horseman’s Dictionary

Broke (brok)-1. a well trained horse  2. A chronic financial condition of a professional horseman who has too many slow paying  clients

Even during good economic times, some clients are not responsible about making timely payments for board, training and lessons.  During tougher times like these, even more clients can be slow about paying your bill and use a tight economy as a shaky excuse.

The truth is not everyone has lost his job and sources of income.  Granted, IRA’s and 401-K’s have taken substantial investment battle damage and property values have dipped in certain areas of the country, but most people are working at the same jobs collecting the same pay checks and unless they need to sell their houses tomorrow, haven’t lost equity.  The price of fuel has temporarily halved and food prices have stabilized.

Fear has replaced confidence and cast a cloud searching for a silver lining over the world economy.  But, for most of your clients, even though they may be fearful and second guessing their commitments to horses, their ability to pay has not been affected.

So, if you are offered lame excuses for slow pay and no pay, do not accept them.

Here are some tips for collecting receivables:

• If the board or training bill is due on the first of the month, then be adamant that you get paid on or before the first.
• Be firm about late fees.  I know that some of your clients are “friends” but would a true friend put financial strain on your business by not paying promptly?
• A face to face conversation about unpaid bills is best.  A telephone call is next in successful results.  A mailed late notice or e-mail is marginally effective.
• When asking for payment for a delinquent account, be polite but firm.  After hearing excuses for late payment simply say, “Yes. Will you be paying me today?  If not in full, how much will you be paying today and when will you pay the rest?

Don’t worry about alienating customers who do not pay on time. If they don’t want to pay, they can move to your competitors and not pay them.

You may lose some clients with a tighter payment policy. But, you’ll replace them with clients who understand your expectations and respect you as a business owner. They are the best clients in the world and as long as you deliver excellent service, they’ll continue to appreciate and support you.

Doug Emerson helps professional horsemen struggling with the business half of the horse business.

Visit his website:  www.ProfitableHorseman.com for more articles like this one and to subscribe to his free electronic newsletter about being profitable in the horse business.

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