Nothing is as certain in life as change and changes often do not come with advance notice.  Illness, market downturns, new competition and many other factors can play a role in how well your clients are able to collect what is owed to them by their clients.  When they don’t get paid, you don’t get paid.  However,  when you provide payment options for your clients you are helping to minimize the loss of clients & income due to unforeseen circumstances in their lives.

Example:  A client who has a good payment history suddenly faces a crisis; let’s say it’s a divorce. Let’s say it’s an ugly divorce.  Let’s say the client’s spouse has manipulated the checking accounts and now your client has limited access to their money! Rather than just applying more pressure to your client you can come alongside of them & calmly inquire as to what’s happening as to why they are not making their payments to you in a timely manner.  If you recognize the value of this client you can offer them payment options.  Now you’ve created an environment where you have some money coming in; even if it’s not all the money you were expecting.  

Setting up a repayment plan for any products or services that are presently outstanding, while offering to “downsize” how much they spend with you on a regular basis, creates an ally.  Totally harassing them & demanding payment-in-full simply sends them into the arms of a competitor.  And guess who they won’t be doing business with when things stabilize again!  

This principle also demonstrates the importance of staying in contact with your clients and getting to know them on more than just a superficial level. Yes, that takes time; but it doesn’t have to involve hours.  Just training yourself and your staff to spend an extra few minutes during a phone call or in an email can go a long way to giving you a “heads up” as to what might be coming down the line.  And when the crisis hits you’ve already got a good relationship established that sets the stage for them making a personal commitment to pay off their debt in full. Never, ever underestimate the power of them telling others about how well you have treated them.  That’s the kind of buzz that puts money in your pocket.

Whenever you are in the financial position to do so it is much better to put yourself in your client’s shoes and think about what would benefit them than to cut all ties and lose that client – and their goodwill – forever.  Providing several payment options on your website will also help to make everyone’s life easier.  If you need additional payment options on your website contact us today.

As for your website, there are many payment options.  Call us today  if you would like help setting up credit card payments, PayPal integration, and payment gateways!