Every B2B company faces the question: at what point does it make sense to hand a claim to an external collection agency?
Internal collection is most effective in the first 60-90 days. After that, the debtor has learned that non-payment has no consequences from you. An external agency restarts the pressure cycle with new credibility.
The debtor has stopped responding to your communications. The debtor has broken payment promises twice. The debtor is in a different country. The claim is approaching its statute of limitations. Your internal team's time is better spent on other customers.
Provide the agency with complete documentation: contract, invoices, delivery proof, all correspondence, and a summary of the debtor's responses and promises. The more complete the file, the faster the agency can act.
Clarify: does the customer relationship continue after recovery? If yes, the agency should be informed so it can calibrate its approach. If no, the agency can use maximum legal pressure.
On contingency terms, outsourcing has no downside cost. If the agency recovers, you pay commission on money you wouldn't have received. If it doesn't, you pay nothing. The real cost of not outsourcing is the write-off.
Our debt recovery agency with over 21 years of experience provides: Business to Business Collections Services, Legal Debt Collections and worldwide Skip Tracing services.
