Revenue increase through the automated follow-up of invoices at Internet Marketing Unie

7% more retained revenue for Internet Marketing Unie through consistent follow-up on invoices

More than 120,000 participants and over 3,000 coached entrepreneurs: in over 8 years, the Internet Marketing Unie (IMU) has taught a large number of entrepreneurs about marketing and how to apply it to their business. All methods to learn online marketing are covered; from seminars to courses, training sessions, videos, and blogs. For a fixed monthly fee, participants have access to all training and the community.

Members can pay for the community and training subscription monthly, quarterly, or annually. This, along with the large influx of eager entrepreneurs, affects the number of invoices and the associated debtor work.

Manual follow-up of a large invoice stream

The organization uses its own payment system to create and send these invoices. Previously, the follow-up was entirely manual.

“We were typically a company that sent a letter to all outstanding debtors once every six months,” says Loorbach. “That barely yielded results. And with the manual follow-up, it could also happen that our company ended the year with 7% – 8% unpaid invoices.”

“If you send the payment reminder only after six months, many customers ignore your letter or email. They take the risk; after all, you weren’t on top of it last time either. ‘That reminder can wait a bit longer,’ your customer thinks,” says Loorbach. “The problem then is that at the end of the fiscal year, you just credit your doubtful debtors. That costs a lot of money and affects your revenue and cash flow.” The financial figures also become less clear, Loorbach indicates. “You don’t really know where you stand. If you have 7% doubtful debtors, your revenue is only 93% instead of 100%. That significantly changes the calculation of how your company is doing!”

Lots of contact in the community, little about the invoice

The main products of IMU are software sales and community and training membership. “Especially our community is a distinguishing factor. There we provide our members with feedback and guidance,” says Loorbach. “At the same time, there has been hardly any physical contact about invoices. This makes the chance of doubtful debtors much greater. That chance becomes smaller if your customer receives a payment reminder after non-payment, then another, and then a warning as long as payment is pending.”

Costs quickly recovered

With the 7% – 8% doubtful debtors per year, there were literally opportunities to capitalize on. “For structuring our debtor management, we considered factoring, selling invoices. A major disadvantage: you give up a significant percentage per invoice. Therefore, we didn’t find it profitable,” says Loorbach. On the recommendation of other entrepreneurs, IMU partnered with Payt. The debtor management now runs automatically through the software.

Loorbach: “With Payt’s software, we only need to collect 2 – 3 extra unpaid invoices each month to cover the costs. That’s quick results!”

“One of the difficult aspects of setting up a debtor process yourself lies in the collection stage. At Payt, SmartCollect is a standard part of the process. This part of the process is also focused on finding a joint solution with a debtor. If that does not help, then the next step is a bailiff. But if you want to inform your debtor about that, you need to have a partnership with such an agency. And normally, that’s quite a complicated party to deal with!” says Loorbach.

The personal touch first

“We find the collaboration with Payt particularly pleasant. We received personal explanations about the software,” says Loorbach. “You can also notice that attention in the software. You can maintain personal contact with your debtors. Previously, it was quite a task: the invoice was in the accounting system and the communication in your mailbox. Now everything is in one place, in an organized manner.”