Page 98 - Paulisms: Gold Nuggets for Small Business

try to make someone bankrupt, as I was usually able to work through it with them. When the advert was placed in the newspaper to make him bankrupt, suddenly the client’s father appeared with the money. Instead of settling for $10,000, we got around $23,000 out of it – original debt plus costs.
The point is that people normally find the money from somewhere. Although they may have their assets tied up in trusts, if you have a PG, you can bankrupt them, and no one wants to go bankrupt.
3.4.2 Debtor’s ledger
If you look at a debtor’s ledger or what money is owed to you, it changes daily – it changes in a heartbeat. That’s why it’s important to get the base right – you need to make sure you have a credit application form so that you know who you’re dealing with.
That debtor’s ledger, as I said, changes daily, and it needs to be monitored daily. In the early days, I did it, and as we grew, I had others do it.
However, you have to have strong KPIs in place or the managers will slack off and start the likes of sending a lot of emails instead of making phone calls. It is a tough position, but you must have some mongrel. There are ways of calling and asking for money. The demanding, abrasive type can lose the account quite easily. It takes years to build business and a relationship; seconds to destroy (see the next two chapters on collecting debt).
3.4.3 Collecting commercial debt