Outsourced Collections Case Studies
Outsourcing Services
Please find below our Outsourced Collections Case Studies which provide feedback and success stories from past clients.
Air & Water Hygiene Services
Market: Technical testing and analysis
Turnover: £3m 80 live accounts
Issue
- Poor cash collection
- Client had no structure or formal process
- High debtor days
Solution
- Weekly reporting showing status of account and activity and any dispute debt that require additional focus
- Design and implement process strategy giving clear direction to all team members
- Implement disputed debt process and assist setting KPI’s for dispute resolution owners
- Worked with client to produce reports that highlighted disputed debt and value that was collectable
Result
- Overall outstanding debt reduced from £100k to £30k
- Disputed invoices outstanding days from 28 days to 7 days
- Improved Ownership of disputes and reduced timescales for resolution
- Increase team work ethic and business focus
CCTV Manned Guarding, and Cleaning Company
Market – Construction
Turnover: £4m 138 live accounts
Finance: Factored
Issue
- Debtor days an average of 129
- Misallocation of payments making it difficult to know which invoices were outstanding.
- Poor terms and conditions that required updating for new business strategy
- No escalation process enabled their customers to delay payment without any implications
- Issues with Applications for Payment in incorrect format and missing back up resulting a considerable amount in disputed debt
- 90 day + disallowed debt very high
Solution
- Reconcile accounts with customers
- Agreed collection strategy with directors to include a process to suspend accounts for non-payment keeping stakeholders advised on progress.
- Reviewed and updated T&C’s to ensure they are appropriate for business-
- advise on role out to all existing customers
- Deliver commercial training to relevant stakeholders to upskill the team on the basics of contact law.
- Held meeting to agree action plan and agreed process which was documented and issued company wide
- Scheduled weekly conference calls with MD and Operational teams to discuss accounts due for escalation
- Improve process for Application for Payment
- Negotiate Final Accounts with customer’s Quantity Surveyors
Result
- Improved efficiency and communication both internally and with their customers
- Improved efficiency and cash flow
- Debtor days an average of 40days
- Rarely any debt in 90 days +
Temporary Job Agency Firm
Market – Industrial, Hospitality & Event Sectors
Turnover: £18.2m 1200 live accounts
Finance: confidential Invoice Discounting
Issue
- Debtor days an average of 100
- Little management reporting
- Debt status not visible
- Account names in incorrect legal entity resulting in issues when taking legal action
- High disallowed debt (90days+) impacting funding availability
Solution
- Design and implement collection, escalation and legal process
- Make recommendations for improvement to customer on-boarding process to capture correct legal entity and obtain agreement to our client’s terms and conditions.
- Credit check all new accounts and advise on credit limit setting
- Designed and implemented dispute resolution process
- Design management reporting to suit client’s requirements
- Set up bulk automatic email for small value debt
- Weekly account review calls with client
Result
- Debtors days reduced to an average of 50 days
- Reduced 90day+ outstanding debt figures by more than 75% increasing finance availability considerably.
- Improved disputed debt value & volume
- Improved success of legal action
I.T. Support Company
Market: Schools and Universities and Media| Turnover: £1.6m | 95 Live Accounts
Issue
- Debtor days an average of 65 days
- Limited budget to spend
Solution
- Dedicated credit controller with agreed monthly hours
- Design and implement collection and escalation process
- Implement bulk automatic email to reduce time required to chase debt.
- Provide weekly reports to suit client’s needs
Result
- Debtor days reduced to an average of 38 days
Technical Testing and Analysis Company
Market: Construction & Retail| Turnover: £10.8m | 340 Live Accounts
Issue
- Poor cash collection
- Client wanted better understanding of where the outstanding debt was sitting
- 90days + high
Solution
- Weekly conference calls to discuss high profile accounts and any disputed debt that require input from multiple teams and how to coordinate this
- Design and implement an onboarding new customer process gaining buy in from the business
- Training sales & project team on commercial aspects including areas of customer terms they need to look out for and negotiate
- Implement disputed debt process and assist setting KPI’s for dispute resolution owners
- Worked with client to produce reports that highlighted disputed debt and value that was collectable
Result
- Debtor days reduced from 100 to 54
- Improved Ownership of disputes and agreed timescales for resolution
- Improved collection forecasting
Control systems contractor
Market: (Construction) | Turnover: £500k
Issue
- Spent too much time chasing outstanding payment which impacted on ability to carry out normal day to day work
- Did not want to involve 3rd party such as factoring company who were only interested in collecting payment, not maintaining positive customer relationships
Solution
- Provided outsourced credit control service that was customer focused
- CMG UK acted as an undisclosed third party that helped to maintain customer relationships
Result
- Significant improvement in cash flow
- Reduced their overdraft facility by £30,000
- More time to carry out day to day work, after delegating cash collection to CMG UK
Downstream Access Company
Turnover: £105m | High Growth | Invoice Finance Facility
Issue
- Debtor days at 97
- No terms and conditions of sale
- Manual invoicing using Excel
Solution
- Provided outsourced credit management service
- Worked with solicitors, directors and sales to produce new terms and conditions appropriate for the industry
- Set up process to roll out new terms and conditions to existing customers ensuring acceptance by conduct can be demonstrated if required
- Identified and integrated billing software customised to suit business needs
- Designed and implemented dispute resolution process gaining buy in from all departments
Result
- Debtor days reduced to an average of 30
- Significant reduction in time for producing invoices and improved error rate
- Protection from consequential loss claims
Recruitment Company
Turnover: £2.5m | Invoice Finance | 50 Live Accounts
Issue
- High debtor days of 76
- Needed help with disputed invoices
- No credit limits set for customers
Solution
- Full outsourced credit control service
- Designed and implemented dispute resolution process, gaining buy in from all departments
- Implemented a process to take legal action against delinquent debtors
Result
- Reduction in debtor days to 43 within 4 months
- Disputes dealt with in a timely manner for faster payment
Supplier of Services to Legal Sector
Turnover: £4.6 million | 700 live accounts
Issue
- Poorly performing credit control processes
- No credit risk assessment
- Inadequate terms and conditions; resulting in poor collection performance
- Considerable bad debt write off
Solution
- Reviewed and updated T&Cs to make them more appropriate for business
- Put credit risk management processes in place
- Strengthened collection strategy
- Amended their CRM to improve automation procedures
Result
- Improvement in collections by 13.5% within a short period of time
- More contact with customers therefore better customer relationships
- Improved efficiency with updated CRM