Vince Olivieri of OPS Plumbing in Gladesville invited me to present at a seminar on credit management and debt collection for his colleagues in various trades prior to Christmas. We decided on North Ryde RSL and ended up meeting with a group of around 15-20 tradespeople. We covered how to set up with a proper set of Terms of Trade Documentation such that, when you’ve completed the works but your client fails to pay, you’ll have the ability to recover the money without having to go to court to enforce payment.
We also covered debt collection and the benefits of getting an external service provider taking over when the client stops listening to you – and why it’s actually essential you choose a debt collector who is committed to recovering the money without having to go to court. Finally we covered the Personal Property Security Act (PPSA) and why, when dealing with commercial clients and particularly when reasonable sums of money are involved, registering on the PPS Register (www.ppsr.gov.au) puts you in the best possible position to get money out of a liquidation / administration as well as prevents the liquidator / administrator from clawing back money from you under preferential payments. This night was a real eye-opener for all involved and, as a result there are now three other businesses who have engaged the services of EC Credit Control to supply comprehensive Terms of Trade and credit management systems. More on these businesses later.