Below are a number of general tips and techniques for collecting payments from customers, excerpted from Essentials of Credit, Collections and Accounts Receivable (July 2002, John Wiley & Sons, $34.95):

Anticipate, wherever possible, the customer's needs.

Become best friends with the accounts payable manager at the corporate headquarters.

Become a squeaky wheel with your largest delinquent customers. Let them know that you have no intention of going away until you have been paid. This will help with the current collection and future ones, as well.

Become the squeaky wheel who gets paid first.

Begin follow-up efforts earlier.

Build a strong relationship with your customer's accounts payable manager.

Communicate immediately with a past-due customer via an invoice  copy and a computer-generated message. Follow this up with a phone call.

Educate your customers. Make sure they know what your payment terms are and when you expect to be paid.

Establish consistency in customer contacts. This means that credit, customer service, and sales must tell the customer the same thing when it comes to payment terms.

Focus on largest accounts and get them to pay close to terms without letting the smaller accounts get completely out of hand.

Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up. Use frequent and persistent phone calls to follow up on late payments.

Get to know the accounts payable manager at your customer's company personally. If the manager likes you, your chances of getting paid on time will improve.

Have a well-documented sales agreement defining payment expectations.

Have collectors keep detailed notes of all promises made and follow up with customers the moment a promise is broken.

Have invoices printed and mailed quickly. Some companies take a week or more to get invoices in the mail, and their customers start the clock running when the invoice hits their desks -- not on the invoice date.

Identify recurring problems with a particular customer and get involved in resolving the problem -- even if it is something outside the credit and collection department.

If your collectors run into the same problem with different companies, review your own internal procedures to see if you can fix the problem.

Improve the collection staff's negotiating skills to improve the effectiveness and quality of customer collection calls.

Make sure that your invoices are correct the first time they are printed. With accurate data, your customer will not have to waste valuable collection time trying to correct the invoice.

Nofity both the customer and the salesperson the minute an account is put on credit hold.

Personal contact in a nonoffensive manner works well. Friendly reminders keep the communication channels open.

Put some muscle behind your calls. If the customer doesn't do it as promised, follow up with the agreed-upon action. This will let them know in the future that you will act if they don't perform.

Keep regular, consistent contact with customers' accounts payable personnel.

Remember to say thank you. Phone, fax, or mail a small thank-you note to someone who has helped you resolve a problem. Once or twice a year, send a thank you gift (such as a t-shirt or coffee mug) to everyone. This mass mailing will be more appreciated by the recipients if it is not done at year-end when other gifts and festivities may diminish in value.

Resolve all disputed issues before the due date of the invoice.

Set deadlines and then communicate those deadlines both to those involved internally and to the customer.

Support the customers' accounts payable staff in their efforts to resolve problems and discrepancies.

Train the customers from the inception of the relationship. Explain due dates and collection policies to new customers as soon as the first payment becomes one day past due.

Treat all people with respect. The customers do not look forward to the collections call, and letting them know their business is appreciated is a good way to start the conversation. Once the funds have been received, the hard decisions can be made.

User friendliness to disarm even the most cantankerous accounts payable manager.

Use imaging for document retrieval. This will save your collectors an enormous amount of time by giving them the information they need without them having to pore over the file cabinets to retrieve it and then refile it.

Use technology, specifically faxes and email, to reach delinquent customers.

With new accounts, especially if significant amounts are involved, make it clear that prompt payment is expected. If the customer is slow, tactfully jump all over it.

MARY S. SCHAEFFER holds a BS degree in mathematics and an MBA degree in finance. She is the editor of a credit newsletter for the Institute of Management and Adminstration and a full-time writer. Her most recent book, Essentials of Credit, Collections and Accounts Receivable, includes best techniques for extending business credit, proven techniques to reduce unauthorized deductions and unearned discounts, the latest Internet, electronic, and high-tech applications, and practical real-life strategies to improve collections.