A club will find its biggest struggles with billing and collections to be the time required to properly manage the process and finding the right person to handle the task. The ability to bill clients in an efficient manner and follow up with those accounts that did not bill successfully is a time consuming process. It takes a particular personality to deal with people and their personal finances. They need to be savvy enough to get back the money owed, and ensure that billing information is updated for the future in a professional manner.
An all-in-one club management software solution that offers billing and collections services can provide significant help with these struggles. Clubs will feel as if they have their own accounting department handling their billing and collections processes. In addition, clubs can be confident that members are handled promptly and courteously and do not have to worry about the stress of dealing with these issues in-house.
After regular lines of communication, such as phone and e-mail are exhausted, and a company has not received any communication from the client, collections becomes the reasonable business decision. The timeframe for which past-due bills are sent to collections should be clearly defined in client contracts and enforced accordingly so there are no surprises. While typical collection dates tend to fall on 30-day increments (30, 60, 90 days), a company’s individual relationship with their client base should really dictate how soon they resort to collections.
While it is true credit cards expire and require more updating, checking accounts also present their own challenges. Problems can take longer to identify with checking accounts, unlike credit cards where you know immediately when a payment has not gone through. Today’s newest technology and authorization methods eliminate many legacy concerns with credit cards by ensuring that they are valid in real time. In the long run, while they have higher rates, credit cards can result in more money returned to a club.
Insights from Carolina Atai, the Marketing Manager for EZFacility. She can be reached at catai@ezfacility.com or 516.336.6536.
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Rachel Zabonick-Chonko is the editor-in-chief of Club Solutions Magazine. She can be reached at rachel@peakemedia.com.
