PlumbingBossPro Blog — Property Managers & Commercial

Collecting From Commercial Plumbing Accounts: Past-Due Follow-Up Without the Awkward Calls

Commercial accounts pay, mostly. But they pay through layers: an accounting department, an owner who approves, a manager who forgot to forward your statement. A plumbing company that does a lot of work for managers and restaurants will always have some money sitting out. The goal is not to never have a late payment. It is to catch late payments early, without souring a good account.

Why Commercial Payments Run Late

Choosing the right billing method, covered in Card on File or Monthly Statement: Choosing How Each Commercial Plumbing Account Pays, prevents a lot of problems. Monthly accounts still slip sometimes, and the reasons are usually boring:

• The statement went to someone who left the company.
• The manager is waiting on an owner to approve a line.
• A line was questioned and nobody followed up.
• Accounting needed a PO number that was not on the bill.
• It simply got buried.

Very few commercial clients are trying not to pay. Most need a reminder and an easy way to fix the problem.

It helps to set expectations at the start. When an account moves to monthly billing, tell the manager when statements go out and when you expect payment. Write the terms in a custom field on the client so everyone in your office gives the same answer. A clear start makes a later reminder feel routine rather than personal.

Prevent the Questions

The best collection work happens before the statement goes out. A statement that answers its own questions gets paid faster:

• Every line labeled with its address. Monthly statements in PlumbingBossPro do this automatically.
• Every job backed by photos and notes. If a manager asks what happened at 77 Elm Ct, the office pulls up the before-and-after photos in seconds.
• Approved quotes for anything big. When a large line was approved online by the manager ahead of time, there is nothing to dispute.
• PO numbers where they are needed. Keep the PO requirement in a custom field on the client so the office sees it every time.

Automatic Past-Due Follow-Up

PlumbingBossPro includes past-due follow-up. When an invoice or statement goes past due, reminders go out by email and text without anyone in the office having to remember who is late. The reminder includes a way to pay online.

That takes the awkward part out. Nobody at your company has to pick up the phone and ask a good customer for money. The reminder does the asking, politely and on time, the same way for every account, and most past-due accounts pay after the first or second one.

Customers can see their invoices and pay from the customer app, so the step from “I got the reminder” to “I paid” is short.

When the Reminder Is Not Enough

If an account stays past due after the automatic reminders, it is time for a person. A text from the office is usually the right first step, and two-way texting keeps it with the client record:

“Hi Dana, our September statement for Oak Street Property Management is still open. Is there anything on it you need from us? Happy to send photos for any line.”

That message assumes good faith, offers help and gets a reply. Usually the reply is “Sorry, missed it, paying today” or “The Birch Ave line needs owner approval.” Either way, you know where things stand. More on texting managers is in Two-Way Texting With Property Managers and Kitchen Managers.

Seeing the Whole Picture

Your reports and the list of open invoices show which clients are carrying a balance and which pay like clockwork. Look at them monthly. An account that has been late three months in a row is a conversation, not a reminder.

Sometimes the right move is to switch that account from monthly billing back to card on file. Sometimes it is to have the owner of your company call the owner of theirs. Very occasionally, it is to stop taking new work until the balance is cleared. None of those decisions should be a surprise if you have been watching the reports.

Protecting the Relationship

The worst outcome is not a late payment. It is losing a good account because collection got heated. Keep the tone friendly, keep the facts in front of you, and make paying easy. Clean statements, photo proof, automatic reminders and online payment do most of the work, which leaves your office free to be helpful instead of pushy.

For more on billing and running commercial accounts, visit the commercial plumbing software page.