Ensuring Payment for Your Services
Sponsored by:
Ensuring Payment for Your Services
Tip provided by:
Robert J. Incollingo
416 Black Horse Pike
Glendora, NJ 08029
856-234-3800
www.rjilaw.com
Thermographers (like lawyers) are subject to the “call girl principle,” which states that the perceived value of a service drops like a stone once the service has been performed. To boost your prospects of getting paid, above all you need to get your bills out promptly, and aggressively follow up on any delay in payment. Here are five other steps you can take to increase your chances of getting paid:
Acquire and use a graduated set of collection letters for your delinquent accounts. Sample collection letters are readily and freely available on the internet, starting with a gentle reminder and increasing in impatience until the matter must be referred out to an attorney. Copy your lawyer with your final collection letter. Many times, a cc: line on the bottom of the letter is all it takes to convince your debtor that he’s had his last warning. Don’t forget to actually send the copy.
2. Early on, a telephone call should be made to catch any mistakes in the system, such as wrong addresses or accounting, and to find out if there is an acceptable reason for the delay in payment. Most people pay their debts unless something prevents them. You may be willing to accommodate their problem for a defined period.
3. Don’t forget to provide in your contract or purchase order for the recovery of attorneys’ fees in the event you have to sue. Most times, the thought of picking up the other side’s legal bills is enough to prevent delinquency all by itself. Remember, however, that unless the customer signs the contract, the attorneys’ fees clause will probably be worthless.
4. Keep copies of the checks you receive. In the event you need to sue to collect on a debt, the information found on a check will help you quickly locate and levy on the account. A bank levy is the easiest way to get real dollars to satisfy your judgment.
5. Discount your expectations. Collection agencies and attorneys don’t work for free, so compromise may be your best course. Figure on backing down to a sum which approximates your likeliest recovery less the expected costs to get there. When you’ve settled on a number you won’t walk away from, remember that terms of payment on time are still negotiable. That’s why they call them lump sums – installments are just easier to swallow.
Bob Incollingo is an attorney in private practice in New Jersey and a regular speaker at Infraspection Institute’s annual IR/INFO Conference.
