DUKAANMATIC BUSINESS GUIDES
Customer credit: a practical routine for collecting overdue payments
Offering credit can help a regular customer buy what they need. Trouble starts when the promise to pay stays in someone’s memory instead of becoming a clear due date. A useful credit routine makes the amount, deadline and next action visible before the balance becomes difficult to collect.
Agree the terms before the sale
Decide who can approve credit and what information must be recorded. At minimum, keep the correct customer account, contact details, agreed payment date and the person authorising the sale. If your business uses credit limits, review the existing balance before making a new commitment. A familiar customer name is not a substitute for checking whether older invoices remain unpaid.
Review invoices, not only the customer total
A customer balance of ₹20,000 might contain one invoice due tomorrow and two that are several weeks late. These need different follow-up. Review outstanding documents by due date, and separate overdue amounts from amounts not yet due. Keep disputed invoices visible with a note explaining the issue. Removing a disputed amount from the discussion without recording why makes it easy to forget later.
Use a simple collection example
Suppose a customer owes ₹6,000 from an invoice due on the 10th and ₹4,000 from an invoice due on the 30th. On the 15th, only the ₹6,000 is overdue. If the customer pays ₹2,000 against that older invoice, the overdue amount becomes ₹4,000 and the total balance becomes ₹8,000. Recording a fresh sale for the receipt would overstate revenue; record the payment against the existing account instead.
Make follow-up specific and respectful
Send a clear account summary with the invoice reference, due date, amount remaining and an appropriate payment method. Ask whether there is a document or delivery issue preventing payment. Record the promised date and follow up on that date. Avoid sending repeated messages from different staff members without checking the latest conversation. A consistent contact person usually makes the exchange easier for both sides.
Review exceptions before giving more credit
In DukaanMatic, use customer ledger, receipt and outstanding invoice information to support the review. Correct wrongly allocated receipts before escalating an overdue balance. Where a customer repeatedly misses agreed dates, have the owner decide the next terms rather than leaving the counter staff to improvise. A weekly review of the oldest unpaid invoices is a manageable starting point. Keep the focus on resolving specific balances, not simply producing a longer overdue report.