The SETTLE Method course

What you'll learn

1. 1. Signal

   Spot trouble before the due date.

   Most late payments give notice. A customer's habits change, a purchase order goes missing, a contact leaves. Signal is the habit of noticing before the due date, not after.

2. 2. Engage

   Make the first contact easy to answer.

   The first message sets the tone for everything after it. Make it easy to answer: specific, polite and clear about what happens next.

3. 3. Trace

   Find the real reason it's unpaid.

   An unpaid invoice has a reason. Until you know it, you are guessing. Trace sorts the cause so the next step fits it. There are four common causes: a dispute, a cash flow problem, an admin error, or avoidance.

4. 4. Talk

   Negotiate an outcome both sides can keep.

   Negotiation here means finding an outcome both sides can keep. Focus on what each side needs, not on winning the argument. Common outcomes are a payment plan, a partial payment now with the balance later, a corrected invoice, or a credit note plus payment.

5. 5. Lock

   Put the agreement in writing.

   A verbal agreement is a hope. Lock turns what was agreed into a short written record that both sides acknowledge.

6. 6. Escalate

   Escalate with cause, on a clean record.

   Sometimes the agreement fails. Escalation is a decision, not a reflex, and it goes best when the record is already in order.