Building a Credit Health Check Service

What a health check covers

A credit health check is a structured review of how a client manages the money owed to them. It looks at the whole receivables cycle — from the terms a customer agrees to, through how invoices are raised, to how overdue accounts are followed up — and reports where the risks and leaks sit. Think of it as a check-up for the debtors ledger.

The output is a short, plain-English summary: what is working, what is exposing the client to slow or bad debt, and what to fix first. It is deliberately bounded. The aim is not an exhaustive audit but a fast, useful read that gives the client a clear picture and you a foundation for further work.

An ideal entry-level offer

A health check is the easiest advisory service to sell, because the commitment is small. A client wary of an open-ended retainer will readily agree to a one-off review with a fixed fee and a defined deliverable. It is a low-risk way for them to sample your advisory work — and for you to demonstrate value before proposing anything larger.

It also generates its own follow-on work. A good health check almost always surfaces issues worth fixing, which means the engagement that began as a single review naturally opens conversations about terms, process, recovery, and ongoing support. The check is the door; the relationship is the room behind it.

Structuring delivery

Keep delivery efficient with a fixed framework you run the same way every time:

• review the debtors ledger and ageing profile;
• check whether written terms exist and are enforced;
• assess invoicing accuracy and timeliness;
• look at the follow-up cadence on overdue accounts.

Quantify the findings so they land. Running overdue balances through the late payment calculator turns "you have a debtors problem" into a dollar figure, which is far more persuasive and gives the client a reason to act. Running the same framework every time also lets you compare one client's receivables health against what good looks like, so your findings carry the weight of a standard rather than a one-off opinion, and the engagement stays quick enough to keep a fixed fee comfortably profitable.

From findings to action

A health check earns its fee by leading somewhere. Present the findings as a short, prioritised list — the few changes that will make the most difference — rather than a long catalogue. Clients act on a focused plan and freeze in front of an overwhelming one.

Some findings will be aged accounts that no process change can recover. For those, the recommendation is escalation, and pointing the client to refer a debt — commission-only, no upfront fee — gives them a risk-free way to act on it. The check thus connects naturally to both ongoing advisory work and recovery. This is general information, not legal or financial advice.