Successful Debt Collection Strategies for Tech Startups

The rise of innovative digital technology has made the term “tech company” somewhat misleading. The world of smartphones and apps transcends any one sector, so now, nearly every industry has a major tech component that is large and growing.

For example, banking and the film industry have nothing in common, except people might use their phones to pay bills or move money between accounts, and then reserve tickets for an afternoon matinee. In other words, tech companies transcend any one industry.

They also transcend their industry’s traditional culture; a digital banking startup will likely resemble other tech startups more than typical banks. The focus on technology means that across sectors, you can find similar patterns of customer behaviours.

Summit A•R has proudly helped businesses collect debts and improve their processes and strategies for over 20 years. Let’s check out a few tips to help modern startups create a solid debt collection strategy, no matter their sector.

Communication Is Key

Fewer problems arise when the company and its customers are on the same page. On the flip side, when communications break down, confusion grows, and problems are likelier to occur. Some companies try to increase profits by introducing a little self-serving confusion; they try to get customers to pay more than they otherwise would be using dark patterns or other tricks.

If customers understand how payments work before committing to them, your business will face fewer problems related to chasing debts. As debt collection specialists, our consulting program will give you personalized tips to help improve your core strategies, but an ounce of prevention can be worth more than a pound of the cure.  

Working proactively to improve debt collection tactics can help a business be more efficient at its core, something tech startups should especially embrace.

Customer and Client Relations

Tech startups are keen to build a streamlined, efficient payment process so it’s easy to scale up revenue and grow their companies. However, it’s crucial that efficiencies never sour relations between the company and its customers and clients. People need to walk away happy with how your business operates. Otherwise, you will be efficiently burning bridges, not collecting revenue.

Getting both sides what they want is where Summit A•R excels! Let’s face the facts. Debt collecting doesn’t always have positive associations. Asking for money can be an awkward, delicate matter, and few people like being asked to make payments. That’s a major reason why businesses struggle with how they will ask for it, never mind making the actual collection.

Summit A•R is proud to pursue a PHD philosophy, which stands for Preserve Human Dignity. It may seem very basic or simple, but we’re always extremely kind and helpful when dealing with people. This attitude helps make the collections process more pleasant for everyone involved, so you can easily maintain client relations and keep end users happy.

You’ll be glad to know it also helps us collect more money in less time! Summit A•R manages to collect nearly double the industry average while keeping a smile on everybody’s face. We will never pursue collections with underhanded tricks that can sully your reputation, like robocalls, late-night calls, threats, harsh language, or other ugly methods.

If you want a collections company that you’ll be proud to associate with, choose Summit A•R.

Outsource Skip Tracing

Efficiency is one of the tech industry’s driving values, so it’s no surprise that tech startups tend to have a lean structure. Usually, their early employees are scrappy and need to handle more than just what their jobs are on paper. In this environment, they seldom hire people for positions that aren’t absolutely necessary.

Most tech startups won’t have their own skip tracing department and may not even have an HR team. Even businesses with their own HR personnel are wise to outsource collections, as skip tracing professionals have a very different skill set than HR professionals.

Tech startups tend to be digitally focused. The last thing they need is to chase down customers and clients offline! Hire the industry leaders for all your skip tracing solutions, and get back to focusing on growing and improving your business.

Summit A•R is one of the only debt collectors in the US with our own in-house licensed private investigator to handle skip tracing. We don’t charge anything extra for clients to use their services.

Tech startups should be more worried about looking forward to becoming a tech business rather than recovering lost revenue or looking backward.

Legal Solutions

What happens when proactive measures and skip tracing don’t work? Sometimes, there are large accounts whose debts you can’t ignore, but they also try to avoid being found, so there isn’t an easy way forward.

If you need to take legal action for unpaid debt because all other options have failed, Summit A•R can help. First, our full-service litigation program will help determine if legal action is right for you. Our licensed private investigator will do a thorough assessment of the person or entity owing the debt.

We will never pursue litigation until our research helps you make an informed decision and we have your permission in writing. It’s possible that the investigation will turn up information that assists our collection efforts, but whether it goes back to the collections queue or you move forward with litigation is entirely your decision.

Once we have your upfront payment for legal fees, our affiliated attorneys will file a lawsuit and continue the collections efforts until we’ve resolved the situation on your terms. Often, the consumer or entity you’re filing the litigation against will be financially responsible for making the payments, so you can keep the full amount.

There is hardly one aspect of modern life that hasn’t been influenced and impacted by digital technology. The startups launching more innovation and refining what exists already do vital work, but they’re understandably busy navigating the current marketplace and anticipating its future. The last thing they need is to get slowed down by money that should be in their accounts already. Hire Summit A•R for your collections, and your tech startup can focus hard on what matters most.