It's a good idea to track your customers' payments, says California-based Mac Tools distributor Scott Campbell. Because he is dealing with a large volume of cash purchases, Campbell monitors payment size and frequency.
“There’s only so much earnings and people have a life to live; so there aren’t too many people who can throw you $100 per week,” he explains. “There’s just not. $40 per week is the average. When I see somebody with [a] $500 (truck balance), that’s when I start having a conversation: ‘You need to knock this down to about $250 before you can buy something else.’ Or, ‘You need to go to $75 per week … get this paid down. There are other trucks on the street; they’re paying maybe the other guy $20 per week [too]. That’s another consideration.”
His computer’s tracking feature helps keep track of the ‘I’ll get you next week’ and ‘every-other week’ customers.
Sometimes Campbell will take his personal truck two days a week and just make the rounds doing collections.
“It’s easier to say ‘no’ when you don’t have a tool truck,” he says.