6. Work together with Member Solutions.
The clients we see with the lowest delinquency percentages work with our team to make it easy for members to manage their accounts and make payments. Some clients prefer to be direct with their members, while others prefer a subtle approach. Either method will increase collection results, so long as you’ve communicated your preferences to our team.
Once you know who is past due, you can simply hand your customer a Member Solutions’ business card and say “Member Solutions has informed us that they have been unable to contact you. Here’s a card with their website and contact information.” Once a customer is aware that you may know that they have a billing issue, they are more likely to pay on time to avoid embarrassment.
7. Ask your customer to provide you with their most accurate billing information.
Have them provide it to you directly, rather than obtaining it from a driver’s license or previous billing account which may be outdated. Ask the customer to verify their vital billing information when they are signing the agreement.
8. Make sure that your customer knows that Member Solutions is servicing the billing portion of their agreement to avoid having payments charged back.
Your endorsement of Member Solutions provides your customers with a reassurance of your professionalism and commitment to quality service. Place the Member Solutions Decal in your business and hand out Contact Cards, both provided free of charge. Talk about our Customer Account Access Website, designed specifically for your customers to make payments, update their billing information, print payment history, or contact our Customer Service Team.
9. Offer settlements to members who have trouble paying.
The longer an account remains delinquent, the less likely you are to receive payment. When a customer is no longer attending class or using your facility, they are more likely to stop paying altogether. Once an account reaches 90 daysdelinquent, we recommend automatically offering the customer a settlement for a percentage of the remaining balance. This could bring you income in the form of a lump sum payment, and leave the customer on better terms which could result in new customer referrals or re-enrollment in the future.
10. Don’t accept payments at your business.
Generally, we discourage our clients from accepting payments at your place of business. Accepting payments creates more work for you and increases the likelihood that your customer will receive delinquency phone calls and correspondence when they are not past-due. Worse yet, it also increases the chance of double billing your customer when the payment is not reported immediately to Member Solutions. Finally, once you accept that first payment, chances are it will occur again and diminish our authority when the customer decides not to pay.