Collections · January 22, 2026 · 6 min
Stop treating collections like a courtesy. It is a system.
Polite reminders are not a strategy. Here is the collections playbook mid-market CFOs actually need.
Courtesy is how invoices die. A well-run collections motion is not rude. It is predictable. The customer always knows what happens next. So does the collector. So does the CFO.
Cadence is the product
Day 0: invoice that can survive a first read. Day 7: confirmation the bill is in their system. Day 21: a named person, not a mailbox. Due date: a promise or a dispute — never silence. Broken promise: same-week escalation. That is a system. 'We'll circle back' is not.
Split the book
Strategic accounts get coverage. Mid-tier gets a cadence. Small balances get automation or write-off math. If every invoice gets the same human touch, none of them get the right one.
- Give disputes a desk and a clock. Five days to close or escalate.
- Write promises down in the system, not in Outlook.
- Measure cash and cycle time. Never 'calls made.'
- When a collector is over 120 active accounts, you do not have a people problem. You have a design problem.
The best collectors are not the most charming. They are the ones working a system that does not leak.
If you want a copy of the diagnostic we run in week one — cause-coded aging, capacity math, dispute clock — book the working session. Bring the aging. We will tell you where the cash is.