Debt collection — it’s the bane of debtors and creditor alike.

Without a credit control strategy in place, enterprises face the threat of time-consuming, expensive and counter-productive, not to mention awkward, collection measures that aren’t effective.

There are ways around this issue however.  One is having a flexible payment solution available up front.

But after all is said and done, most creditors, at some stage or another, are going to have to chase debts. Is there an alternative to the awkward phone call/email/collection agency approach?

You bet there is, one that uses SMS for debt collections — automated, personalised SMS messages to communicate with the client in a tailored, professional way.

Here’s how you do it.

1.       Make a list of all clients with outstanding debts

2.       Load your debtors’ information onto an Excel spreadsheet. You’ll need the following details:
a. Company name, client’s first and last name, mobile phone number, amount owed to you, days overdue and invoice number

3.       Login to TextaHQ

4.       Import the information into Texta as a new list

5.       Create a new campaign

The information from your spreadsheet will automatically populate individual SMS messages to your debtors.

You can include a specific email address — your company’s accounts department, for example — for replies to be automatically forwarded to.

You can also track what’s happening with your collection campaign via Texta. Simply log in to see what messages were sent, who sent replies and what they said.

Once you’ve given your debtors a certain amount of time to settle their bill, you can send a second ‘past due’ notice to those stragglers yet to pay. It’s the perfect way to reduce the stress of making those disagreeable calls to your otherwise faithful customers.

Of course, not every account will have to go this far. In fact, TextaHQ actually provides a great way to avoid debtors in the first place. You can send out friendly reminders a few days (or weeks, for longer term contracts) ahead of schedule. It’s an excellent way to avoid the unpleasantness often associated with debt collection (and it’s a great way to nip any ‘I forgot’ excuses in the bud).