IDEA: When does your firm get paid? Create a complete list of who (AP contacts), how and when your customers will pay you.

Create an exhaustive list of all the specific AP personnel who pay your invoices. They are in importance just behind the company buyer who issues the purchase orders.  Have the payors’ names, addresses, email addresses, telephone and fax number and any other comments pertinent to getting your invoices paid on time. They will also provide a phenomenal amount of good feedback as to what is wrong with your company and what should change.  They are normally blunt and will tell you quickly what your firm did wrong. These people are to be listened to because they are the first to find out what is wrong with your product or service because they are told NOT to pay you because (i.e. wrong color, damage to shipment, late shipment, wrong size, deficient order, wrong products, etc.) Your company needs to hear these complaints every day to improve.  That is why collections must keep sales and marketing personnel up to date on customers’ feedback.