What can H&R Block teach us about accounts receivable?
There’s an H&R Block location a couple of blocks away from our office here in Chicago. We pass by it sometimes heading to lunch.
And, because we’re always thinking about accounting and accounts receivable over here at FinanceFuel (not nerdy at all), I remember walking past the store on Tax Day and thinking about the way they advertise their services, wondering if this type of strategy could apply to accounts receivable.
Here’s what I mean. H&R Block doesn’t wait until tax day to start reaching out to existing or new customers. If you walk by one of their stores in January or February, there are already signs advertising things like, “You could get a refund advance,” or, “Get started today.” “Walk-ins welcome.” They encourage people not to wait until the very last minute. There are plenty of commercials on TV and — since I’ve used them before for my taxes — I receive a few friendly emails that remind me to stop in.
What would it look like to replicate this approach with your invoices?
With the H&R Block approach, you still treat the invoice due date as the final “Tax Day” but now you have 2–4 proactive nudges going out in the 30 days prior, encouraging earlier payment. Maybe you provide incentives for paying in the first 10 days.
Will customers be upset by the increased outreach? Not at all. Again, thinking back to H&R Block, I was never upset to see one of their reminders. I viewed it as them looking out for me, making sure I didn’t miss the deadline.
Late payments or last second payments don’t have to be the norm. Proactive follow-ups before the due date is a way to turn things around.
Does this feel like a lot of added work to take on? More manual tasks to manage? Check out how FinanceFuel’s mix of human support and software can do all of this for your organization.
