How to deal with customers who do not pay their invoices on time

As an entrepreneur, you are dependent on the payment of invoices; after all, your own suppliers will have to be paid on time. Especially when the number of defaulters increases, this can jeopardize the financial stability of the company. This risk is greater for smaller entrepreneurs than for example companies within the SME sector, which maintain larger reserves to absorb unpaid invoices. How do you deal with defaulters? How do you ensure that these invoices are paid by customers as quickly as possible? You can read more about it in this article. One of the options you have is to engage a party such as Juristu, which offers bailiff support to get these unpaid invoices paid.

Legal advice on the steps to be taken

You may be aware that you have to go to court to actually be able to deploy a bailiff. The judge must recognize that you are entitled to the outstanding debt from the debtor. In order to be well prepared for a lawsuit, legal advice in advance may be desirable. What are the chances of a successful lawsuit? Are there alternatives to going to court? What conditions must be met to be able to send a bailiff to a non-paying customer? How likely is it that something can actually be gained? These are examples of questions that you can put to a lawyer.

Advice from lawyers is also desirable in other cases

The advice of a lawyer is not only desirable for defaulters. Also consider conflicts that have arisen with suppliers or, for example, employees. What follow-up steps can you take to end the conflict as quickly as possible and prevent further escalation? In some cases you may want to know how strong your legal position is; does it make sense to start a lawsuit against a supplier or employee? Lawyers can inform you about this.

Steps you can take yourself when dealing with a defaulter

If a customer doesn't pay their invoice, you can take several steps. For example, first send them a payment reminder and then call them to check if the invoice and reminder have arrived. It's possible the customer didn't receive the invoice, or it wasn't delivered to the right person within the organization. If this doesn't work, you can send a second payment reminder before contacting a debt collection agency.