In an industry which relies heavily on supply chain and excellent customer relations, having to deal with overdue invoices, repeated late and non-payments can not only affect immediate cash flow but the opportunity for repeat business and client referral.  Partnering with a professional, industry specific debt collection agency can mean the difference between profit and write-offs. In the event that an account moves into dispute having the time and right approach to work towards a resolution without damaging customer relationships or causing negative impact to your projects can be a never-ending cycle. 

But how do you select a collection agency that integrates with and best represents your company?

When choosing a credit reference and debt collection agency, there are several important factors to consider:

1. Is your business sector the agency’s core competency? 

Debt recovery in any sector requires industry insight to understand not only the cause of the debt but the wider issues affecting the trade.  The construction industry is no different, if you have been involved in Credit Management and litigation for construction, you’ll know that construction debts can be ‘challenging’ to collect and requires specialist, expertise to get to the bottom of complex construction contracts. Collecting the payments owed to your business, on time, or recovering finance is one of the biggest issues for construction.

2. Is the collection agency certified with a qualified accreditation organisation?

The Credit Services Association are the only national UK trade association for companies active in the debt collection and debt purchase industry. Full members must adhere to their Code of Practice. This provides a benchmark for industry best practice, assuring quality and professionalism. 

• The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) requires members to provide a declaration of compliance with statutory legislation covering the finance industry. 
• Top Service Ltd is an approved signatory of the Prompt Payment Code
• Top Service Executive Directors are all members of the Institute of Credit Management (ICM) and abide by the code of professional conduct set down by the ICM.

3. Does the commercial collection agency have highly skilled and trained staff?

A collection agency’s front line staff will be interacting with your clients and therefore representing your company. It is important that they have the training and qualifications to manage your instruction. Top Service operates a rigorous training programme based on 25 years experience of working in the built environment. Qualifications and standards training can be far reaching but look for those holding current certification in collection strategies, techniques, and compliance. For example all Top Service Executive Directors undertake a City & Guilds accredited Diploma in Debt Recovery and all collections staff undertake a Collection Accreditation Initiative Test on an annual basis.  This test is run by the Credit Services Association. All Executive Directors and Managers of the company hold management qualifications at the equivalent of NVQ level 4 or higher and all supervisors are required to undertake supervisory management qualifications. Experience counts!

4. Is my company information secure and the data collected protected?

In order to protect your business and customers, the professional collection agency you choose needs to operate under strict data protection and data management protocol. The General Data Protection Regulation forms part of the new Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) of which the main provisions of GDPR applied from 25 May 2018 and provides legislation for tighter control on information safeguarding. Top Service also ensures the data held by the company on removable drives is encrypted using advanced encryption standard algorithms validated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The Directors carry out regular compliance reviews to ensure that the company is trading within current legislation, rules and regulations.

5. Is the collection agency recognised by industry and referred by recommendation?

The collection agency you choose is an extension of your company. When considering a debt collection agency, it’s important to determine the processes and manner in which they conduct their collections activity and if it is in line with your own company values. Top Service is customer focused and their collections activity is carried out seamlessly in a legal and ethical manner. Recently Top Service was instructed by SAEMA to recover four debts, two of which were over a year old and within one month they had credited a significant sum of the outstanding accounts directly back to SAEMA. 

“Our decision to instruct Top Service to manage our collections was based on our need for a personal, industry specific service with a high regard for our customers.   As the only credit reference and collections agency working within the construction industry and a reputable company, we can rely on their discretion, ability to take the time to understand the background of our claims, and the reasons behind non-payments to achieve a successful result.” Tony Seddon, Company Secretary, SAEMA 

Top Service provides a debt recovery consulting service, specialising in the construction industry. Our team delivers an industry specific service from pre-legal, litigation to enforcement and operates a no win-no-fee basis. Our service is tailored to our customer needs and is available to our members regardless of the size or age of debt.  

SAEMA is the trade association and training body for the access cradle and façade maintenance equipment industry.  SAEMA has a membership comprising contractors, manufacturers and trainers who work collectively to create free access to guidance on good working practices, industry understanding and health and safety assessment schemes.

‘Insider’ Insight

As a specialist trade association setting standards for the construction industry, SAEMA needs to ensure its operational systems are as robust as its service provision. SAEMA prides itself on excellent industry reputation and strong business relationships, which directly affect the quality of their customer support, guidance and governing practices. As a member of Top Service they have access to construction firm and industry insights to reassure them that the business relationships they enter into are financially low risk. 

Debt Recovery and Collections

On occasion an account may need to be instructed to our debt recovery and dispute resolution service for swift handling. We understand SAEMA’s need to maintain positive relationships with customers as a reputation based business. Our communications and collections activity is customer focused and carried out seamlessly in a legal and ethical manner. 

We worked with SAEMA to recover four debts, two of which were over a year old and within one month we had credited a significant sum of the outstanding accounts directly back to SAEMA.

 “Our decision to instruct Top Service to manage our collections was based on our need for a personal, industry specific service with a high regard for our customers.   As the only credit reference and collections agency working within the construction industry and a reputable company, we can rely on their discretion, ability to take the time to understand the background of our claims, and the reasons behind non-payments to achieve a successful result. Top Service actioned a number of our debt recovery accounts for us resulting in significant payments being received, within a short period of time, exceeding our expectations across the board. I recommend their services highly.”Tony Seddon, Company Secretary, SAEMA.

Top Service provides a debt recovery consulting service, specialising in the construction industry. Our team delivers an industry specific service from pre-legal, litigation to enforcement and operate a no win-no-fee basis. Our service is tailored to our customer needs and is available to our members regardless of the size or age of debt.  

Vertikal Days is the biggest European crane, access and telehandler event. Taking place over two great days at Silverstone there are Association and Company meetings, seminars and workshops. With the sun shining and the cranes and lifts looking amazing, this years event was the best ever.

Top Service were situated in the Marketplace and it was great to catchup with many of our members and the perfect chance to meet new businesses from across the UK.

We look forward to next years event with anticipation.

We have been made aware that there are spurious emails currently being sent out by an unknown third party which have been made to look like they have been sent by ourselves.  They are using our company logo and have been mocked up to look like one of our chasing emails.

The email address they are making it look like it has been sent from is creditcontrol@top-service.co.uk. This is not an email address we use.  They have also included a link in the email which asks the recipient to click the link to view an an invoice. Our chasing emails do not contain links to download invoices.

If you have received one of these fake chasing emails then we would suggest you delete the email immediately and definitely do not click any links contained within it. If you receive any emails from us that you suspect may not be genuine then please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.

It has been a long and thorough six months, but we’ve done it!  Top Service has now been regulated by Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which really good news for us, and for our clients too.

The six month process is designed to leave no stone unturned, ensuring consumers can trust the companies they deal with, that appropriate products and services are being provided, and the consumer’s best interests are at heart.

Of course, this can’t happen overnight. The FCA has a thorough system, which involves examining company records and transactions, visiting the premises, and targeted supervision to allow an in-depth understanding of how a company trades.

The rules are stringent, and only the best make the grade – which is why we’re so thrilled to have achieved this benchmark of success.

As the country’s leading specialist credit reference and debt collection agency, Top Service in Worcestershire promises, and delivers, exceptionally high standards. Celebrating 25 years in business this year, they are now also delighted to announce a 100% pass rate for their collectors again this year in the recent CSA (Credit Services Association) CAI Collector Accreditation Tests.

Covering everything from financial conduct and dispute resolution, through to lending standards, data protection and fair treatment of customers, these tests are voluntary. “However,” says MD Emma Miller, “ we undertake them annually, as we want to differentiate our services and really demonstrate that our working practices, ethics and knowledge of our business are second to none. With such excellent results, our customers really can see that we’re working with best-practice at our core at all times”

Credit control is a vital part of any business. It’s about doing good research on your clients, and giving credit only to those who demonstrate they are able to pay. And on time at that! A sale isn’t a sale until the money is in the bank – in other words, ‘it doesn’t count, until it’s in the account’.

It’s just one of a stable of tools a business can employ in their financial control armoury, but before you allow your customers to take goods from you, or before you send your team in to start work on a job make sure your client is credit-worthy.

Over the years, we at Top Service have noticed many similarities and distinct patterns appearing amongst the debts we’ve been asked to collect. It’s been possible to build a clear picture from these of how to avoid the situations in the first place, so we’d like to share a few of them with you.

1) TIP 1 – TIGHTEN UP ON CASH SALES

Due to the nature of this type of transaction few details are generally recorded.  Sometimes just a first name and the site address are taken.  The problem is that an alarming number of these ‘cash sale’ transactions are turning sour.  Cheques are bouncing, or perhaps the customer is not on site at the designated time to pay cash on delivery, but the order is dropped off anyway.

Alternatively, some ‘cash sale’ customers are also creeping onto a weekly or monthly ‘unofficial’ account by forgetting cheque books or cash and promising to ‘sort it out when I come in next week / month’.  If some of your  ‘cash sales’  are turning into  ‘bad debts’  it may be time to examine your procedures and tighten up your whole  cash sale  system.

2) TIP 2 – DON’T BURY YOUR HEAD IN THE SAND

Everyone is guilty of a little paper shuffling at some time, i.e., moving an awkward file between trays, desks, offices, departments, etc., without actually dealing with it.  The problem with debts is that the older they are the harder they are to recover. 

Be disciplined, set yourself a definite target for collecting the debt and stick to it.  If, for any reason, you are unable to collect make a firm decision about what to do next then be decisive. Either write it off or pass it to a third party for collection.

3) TIP 3 – BYPASS THE ‘OLD PALS’ ACT

Collecting money from people that have been good customers for the past twenty years can be awkward.  If you have the sneaking suspicion that they are taking advantage of your good nature then  the only option is to delegate responsibility to a third party. 

If you don’t want to pass the account to an outsider, at least ask someone else in your company to handle it.  You can then say without any conscience that you’d like to help but the matter is out of your hands.

4) TIP 4 – MAKE SURE A CREDIT APPLICATION FORM IS COMPLETED EVERY SINGLE TIME

Without fail.  The one you skip will be the one that turns bad.  Make sure you know who you’re dealing with before you start supplying.  If you don’t already use a credit application form then telephone us and we’ll send you a sample (01527 518800). 

Think about what will help you get paid quickly when you are designing your credit application form

Who authorises the payments? What’s the correct address for invoices? What information do they require to get your invoice processed?

Get the information while you can – once you’re owed money, the unwillingness to provide information starts.

5) TIP 5 – KNOW YOUR RIGHTS WHEN PAYMENT IS LATE

Your invoice has been submitted, the payment time has passed and now you have to make a decision.  A polite chasing call may be all it needs. Or an email. But what if you’ve chased a couple of times and got no response? At this stage you are entitled to add late payment interest and compensation charges. Click here to calculate how much you could be entitled to.

5) TIP 5 – USE TOP SERVICE TO CHECK THEM OUT OR COLLECT THE DEBT!

Being a specialist agency for the construction industry, we’ve built up a whole raft of insider information over our 25 years. We now have over 2,500 clients – from small builders’ merchants through to multi-nationals, who trust us to provide accurate, up-to-the-minute information to them.

If you’re about to do new business – check it out with us first.  Or if you find yourself in the unfortunate situation of having bad debts to chase – let us do it for you. We work on a no-win no fee basis.

For more information telephone our enquiries team on 01527 503991 or email enquiries@top-service.co.uk

When Top Service began trading 25 years ago, the market was very different. Of course, the internet was only in its infancy and not available to the general public, so research meant long phone calls and visits to public and council offices.  Nonetheless, founders Lisa Cardus and Kevin Halligan were determined to make a success of the business.

How things came about:

From their own personal experiences, they knew there was a real need for a specialist credit information provider and collection service. It was a construction boom time, with new developments springing up all over the UK – they spotted a gap in the market and set about filling it.

“Construction is a lengthy process, involving many layers of providers,” says Lisa. “People need to know that their business partners are financially stable – nobody wants a project going under halfway through completion. And that’s why setting up Top Service was so essential.

“In the early days, we had just a handful of small builders’ merchants as clients, but pretty soon, word got around about how we did business. At the core of the company’s values, we’ve always held integrity, transparency and community at our heart. We set out to genuinely care about our customers, and have continued to do so. We provide them with accurate information, excellent support and very reasonable terms. And that’s why we’re here 25 years on,” says Lisa.

Staff Are A Vital Cog Too:

“On the flip side, we also care about our staff. We truly believe that happy employees are productive, so we nurture staff development and a ‘family’ environment. That way, we grow our knowledge base and keep it close to home. We have a wealth of insider information at our fingertips – another secret weapon that helps us stay ahead of the competition.”

To date, Top Service boasts over 2,500 traders amongst our specialist community

What Our Customers Say:

We were there at the beginning,” says Martyn Rees, County Building Supplies, “and Top Service’s determination soon had even some of the most difficult old debts resolved. Top Service now seem to be the leading company in the industry the by word for information”

Plans For The Future:

Now recognised as the ‘go to’ company for all aspects of credit information, credit control and debt collection within the industry, Top Service has great plans for the future, including continued growth, whilst keeping up levels of customer service.

“We started life with a philosophy that customers are the priority,” says Lisa. “This remains embedded in our company values. Our customers are key, and we’d like to thank everyone who has supported us, for making the company what it is today.”