Proactive and successful management of accounts receivable requires the use of automation and data. These resources can be used to guide your customers smoothly and efficiently through the accounts receivable process. Accounts Receivable Sequences – the automated interactions that guide customers from onboarding through collections – help you to use customer data to choose the best approach for each account.

Accounts Receivable Sequences can be used to automate customer interactions such as:

  • Multichannel activities – email, text and auto-calls
  • External collection processes – dunning
  • Internal processes – credit approvals, phone calls and calls with scripts
  • Any process associated with accounts receivable such as internal communications

Here are 7 powerful accounts receivable sequences that can be automated to guide your customers.

Onboarding

Onboarding a new customer is very important to building a successful long-term relationship. Automate your onboarding sequence with an introductory email that welcomes the customer and provides information important for a smooth relationship. An optional phone call can be added to personalize the sequence.

Invoicing

Follow up on past due invoices is easier and more successful when you automate this sequence with:

  • 1st Past due reminder
  • 2nd Past due reminder
  • 3rd Past due reminder
  • 4th Past due reminder
  • Past due cadence

Prompt and persistent follow up will help to reduce past due balances.

Disputes

Automating the dispute sequence is critical to timely conversion of accounts receivable to cash. The sequence automation should include:

  • Acknowledgement of the dispute
  • Escalation of the dispute to the stakeholders
  • Resolution of the dispute

Month End

Monthly statements should be sent automatically to keep customers informed of their account status.

Credit Hold

The credit sequence is critical to successful management of accounts receivable exposure. Automation of credit hold makes sure that orders are not shipped inadvertently to past due accounts. Annual credit reviews and % credit used information can also be automated to round out the credit sequence.

White Glove

Some customers do not want automated emails. For these special situations an automated schedule can be sent to a customer to establish a schedule to touch base instead.

Guiding your customers with automated accounts receivable sequences based on customer data will help you to convert accounts receivables to cash and achieve your AR and cash flow goals.

The key to successfully automating accounts receivable sequences is to work with an experienced software partner.

Lockstep Receivables (formerly Anytime Collect) is a market leader in cloud-based credit and collection platforms. Lockstep Receivables can help you automate your accounts receivable sequences.

If you would like to learn more about how you can benefit from automating your accounts receivable sequences, please contact Lockstep at www.lockstep.io.