There is a very simple reason receivables get old: chasing is awkward. The customer is a neighbour, they have come here for ten years, and reminding them of 400 dirhams feels like a lack of trust.
Except that saying nothing fixes nothing. The debt grows, the awkwardness grows with it, and the moment arrives when the conversation has become impossible — for you as much as for them. A reminder given early is a formality; the same one six months later is a conflict.
Before you call: know exactly what you are talking about
A reminder that opens with "you owe me around 400" is a reminder that ends in a negotiation. One that opens with "there is 380 left from the 3rd and the 17th" ends in a payment or a date.
Before you pick up the phone, have the only three things that matter in front of you: the exact balance, the sales that make it up, and the date of the last payment. If you do not have them, the problem is not the chasing — it is the tracking.
The three reminders, in order
An effective reminder is not harsher than the one before it, it is more formal. The tone stays the same; what changes is the trace it leaves.
- The passing reminder. On the next visit, at the counter: "by the way, there is 380 left from the 17th". No announcement, no reproach. Eight times out of ten that is enough.
- The written message. A WhatsApp with the detail: dates, amounts, balance. It turns a disputable memory into a figure both parties can see.
- The payment plan. "Shall we say 100 a week for four weeks?" A customer who cannot pay 400 today can often pay 100 four times — and will accept a plan far more readily than an ultimatum.
The goal of a reminder is not to be paid today. It is to get a date, and to hold it.
What makes a reminder fail
- Chasing in front of other customers. A shopkeeper who embarrasses a regular in public loses both: the money and the customer.
- Threatening without intending to follow through. A threat that goes nowhere teaches the customer that the next one will not either.
- Accepting a vague date. "Next week" is not a date. "Thursday" is, and it makes a legitimate reminder possible on Friday.
- Continuing to serve on credit. While the slate keeps growing, the customer has no reason to clear it. Freezing credit without closing the door is the most effective lever, and the least violent.
When the relationship comes first, and when it stops doing so
It has to be said plainly: some old debts will not come back. Past a certain age, the energy spent chasing is worth more than the sum. The real cost then is no longer the money lost, it is the time spent thinking about it.
For amounts that justify going further there is a formal route — a notice, then proceedings. That is not a subject to handle from a blog post: it is the point at which to ask a lawyer, who will also tell you whether the amount is worth it.
Stopping it from happening again
The best reminder is the one you never have to give. Three habits are enough: record the credit sale as it happens rather than in the evening, say the new balance out loud to the customer, and set a per-customer ceiling before you need one.
That is also what software makes automatic: the balance shows at the moment of sale, the age of each debt is visible, and the ceiling is set once. Gestio tracks receivables per customer — see the features.