Businesses that sell directly to other businesses have some very specific differences from businesses that sell directly to consumers. For that reason, businesses that participate in B2B sales may require special or unique attention from a debt collection company. If your B2B company is in need of a debt collection agency, you will want to make sure that the agencies you consider have proven experience in the B2B sector.
Businesses that sell direct to consumers are generally built on the model where many smaller sales are made to many different customers. For these companies, no single customer represents a significant percentage of sales, and the loss of a customer would not be devastating. This can give debt collection agencies some flexibility in how they handle their debt recovery efforts.
On the flip side, businesses that sell directly to other businesses are more likely to be built on a model where larger sales are made to fewer customers. For these companies, one single customer could represent a larger percentage of sales, which means that the loss of one customer could be catastrophic. This means that B2B debt collectors must be extra careful to ensure that the existing business relationship is not damaged.
If you are looking to hire a debt collection agency that specializes in B2B debt collection, you will want to pay particular attention to the following areas:
Experience
While experience is important for any debt collection agency, you are going to want your B2B collection agency to have adequate experience collecting debts specifically for B2B companies. Previous experience handling B2B debt collections is one of the best indicators for future results. If an agency has been collecting B2B debts for a number of years, they likely have a good idea how to handle any situations that may arise. It is also a significant advantage if the collection agency has a debt collection lawyer on staff.
Collection Ethics
Much like experience, collection ethics are important for any debt collection agency, but that importance is magnified when applied to B2B collections. Because B2B clients can represent a great deal of business to any company, the collection agency will have to exercise extreme caution in making certain that nothing is done to damage an ongoing or potential business relationship between the creditor and the debtor.
You will want to make sure that the collection agency has a very specific ethics code in place that all of its employees will follow without fail. This ethics policy should specify that everyone associated with the collection agency will follow all federal and state collection laws. It should also contain sections forbidding deceptive practices and threatening debtors.
Financial Responsibility & Continuing Education
It goes without saying that any debt collection agency should be able to provide evidence that it is a financially responsible entity. It is also obvious that it would be an advantage for any agency to require its employees to receive continued training and education.
When it comes to B2B debt collection, each of these issues becomes significantly more important. Therefore, you will want to pay close attention to how a collection agency handles the money it collects and how it trains its employees.
While collecting B2B debts can be a very similar process to collecting consumer debts, the stakes can be significantly higher in all aspects of the collection. Therefore, you will want to be absolutely certain that the agency you hire will be able to handle the collection in a competent manner.
