Build a credit health service
Package the discipline of getting clients paid — terms, limits, monitoring and follow-up — into a defined credit health service that protects clients and earns recurring fees.
What this play helps you do
- Define the components of a credit health service a small business genuinely needs
- Move clients from ad-hoc chasing to a structured credit-control rhythm
- Build a deliverable that demonstrates risk reduced, not just hours worked
- Decide which elements you deliver and which you refer to a recovery specialist
- Set up the service so it naturally recurs each quarter or month
9 min read
The opportunity
Small businesses get into debtor trouble not because of one bad customer but because of weak credit habits: vague terms, no credit limits, no consistent follow-up, no early warning when a payer slows down. They feel the pain but lack the system.
A credit health service packages that system. You bring structure — sensible terms, simple limits, a monitoring rhythm, and a clear escalation path — to a business that has been improvising. It is advisory work with a tangible, ongoing output, which makes it ideal for recurring fees.
Run the play (steps)
- Assess current credit health. Review the client's terms, debtor ageing, customer concentration and follow-up habits to establish a baseline.
- Set the framework. Recommend clear payment terms, simple credit limits for larger customers, and a defined follow-up sequence.
- Install a monitoring rhythm. Agree a regular check — monthly or quarterly — where you review the ledger and flag emerging risk.
- Define escalation. Decide the point at which an overdue account is handed to a recovery specialist rather than chased internally.
- Report and review. Each cycle, show the client what improved — debtor days, amounts at risk — so the value is visible.
How to package & price it
Package credit health as a subscription-style engagement: an onboarding setup fee to establish the framework, then a recurring fee for the monitoring rhythm and reporting. The recurring element is the prize — it converts a one-off project into dependable revenue.
Price the setup on the value of risk removed and the recurring fee on the value of ongoing protection and foresight. Where escalation is triggered, recovery is handled by a specialist on a no-recovery-no-fee basis, which you can arrange via the refer a debt pathway — so your service stays advisory and the collection cost stays success-based.
Measuring impact
Show progress with a small set of figures the client understands: average debtor days, total overdue, and the value of debts resolved or recovered. A simple before-and-after each cycle proves the service is working and justifies the recurring fee.
Track your own metrics too — how many clients are on the service, retention across cycles, and how often escalation leads to successful recovery — so you can refine the offer and demonstrate its commercial logic.
Key takeaways
- Credit health productises the habits clients lack: terms, limits, monitoring and escalation.
- An onboarding fee plus a recurring monitoring fee turns the work into dependable revenue.
- Prove value each cycle with debtor days and amounts at risk, and refer escalation to a specialist.
FAQ
Is this just credit control under a new name?
It is credit control turned into a defined, recurring advisory service with reporting and escalation. The structure and the demonstrated value are what let you charge for it rather than absorbing it into other work.
What if the client wants me to chase the debts myself?
You can manage early, routine follow-up as part of the rhythm, but escalate genuinely overdue accounts to a recovery specialist. That keeps you in the advisory role and gives the client a no-recovery-no-fee route for hard cases.
How do I keep the recurring fee justified?
Report visibly each cycle. When the client can see debtor days falling and amounts at risk shrinking, the recurring fee reads as cheap insurance rather than an overhead.
Run the play — we'll handle recovery
Commission-only recovery your clients can trust. No recovery, no fee.