A call, start
to finish.
Nothing about this is clever, and that is deliberate. It rings, it says who it is, it asks how you would like to settle, and it writes down the answer.
The shape of the script
Yours to change, and approved by you before anything happens.
CustomerHello?
EllaGood morning, this is Ella calling from Northbridge Joinery. Is now a good time?
CustomerYes, go ahead.
EllaThank you. I am calling about invoice 1055 for $3,460, which is 22 days past due. I wanted to check whether it had been missed.
CustomerI thought that one had already been paid.
EllaIt may well have crossed with us. Nothing has come through on it yet, so I will note that you believe it has been sent and somebody will check at our end.
EllaThank you very much for your time.
CustomerHello?
EllaGood afternoon, this is Ella calling from Northbridge Joinery. Is now a good time?
CustomerSure, go ahead.
EllaThank you. I am calling about invoice 1055 for $3,460, which is 22 days past due.
CustomerI do not think I ever received that one.
EllaThat would explain it, and I am sorry about that. I can text it through to you right now if that would help.
CustomerYes please, that would be good.
EllaSent, it should be with you in a moment. I will note that it was resent today so nobody chases you again in the meantime.
Where it stops
The boundaries are built in. They are not switches somebody can find later and turn off.
The moment it is disputed
If the customer says the work was wrong, the amount is wrong or the invoice should not exist, the call stops being a reminder. It takes what they said, marks it for a person and emails your accounts inbox.
The moment somebody cannot pay
Hardship is a conversation for a human being. The caller takes the message and hands it over rather than negotiating a plan it has no authority to agree.
Anything outside the invoice
It knows your invoices and nothing else about the relationship. Asked something beyond that, it says so and passes the question on.
After one call
One per invoice per cycle. If you want somebody rung repeatedly, this is the wrong product and there is no setting for it.
What lands back on the invoice
A call that is not written down may as well not have happened.
Whether it connected
Answered, no answer, or wrong number. A wrong number is worth knowing before you chase again.
What was said
In the customer's own words rather than a summary that loses the bit that mattered.
What was promised
The date, if one was given, so you know on Friday whether Thursday happened.