How to chase overdue payments without losing the retailer

Every distributor has a list of retailers who owe money. The hard part isn't knowing the list — it's deciding who to chase today, and doing it in a way that keeps the retailer buying from you.

1. Decide who comes first

Chasing everyone equally wastes the day. Four things tell you who matters most:

• How long it's been overdue. Forty-five days is a different conversation from nine.
• How much is owed. A large balance moves your cash more than several small ones.
• How risky the account looks — a pattern of late payment, or a business that is slowing down.
• Their record on promises. A retailer who has already promised twice and not paid needs a different approach from one who has never been late.

Put those together and a short list appears at the top. Everything else can wait a day.

2. Be specific, dated and polite

“Please clear your dues” is easy to ignore. A message that names the amount, the number of days and asks for a date gets an answer:

“Namaste Sharma ji, ₹42,000 has been pending for 45 days. Kya aap payment kal tak bhej sakte hain?”

Use the channel the retailer already answers — for most, that is WhatsApp. Keep the tone the way you would say it in person: firm about the date, respectful about the relationship.

3. Write down the promise — and follow it up on the day

When a retailer says “Monday tak”, that is a promise with a date. Record it. On Monday, check. A promise nobody follows up teaches the retailer that dates don't matter; a promise that gets a polite message on the day usually gets kept.

4. Escalate with a person, not a louder message

If a promise is broken twice, the next step is a call from you, not a stronger template. Decide too whether new orders should wait until the balance moves — see our note on credit limits.

5. Watch one number: days sales outstanding

Days sales outstanding (DSO) is roughly the money owed to you, divided by your credit sales per day. As an example: ₹10 lakh outstanding against ₹40 lakh of credit sales in a 30-day month is about 7.5 days. You don't need to be precise — you need to see whether it's creeping up.

How Distiqo helps

Every morning at 10:00, Distiqo ranks your overdue accounts by days overdue, amount, risk and payment history, and drafts the reminder for the top of the list. You read it and approve it; it's sent on WhatsApp. If the retailer replies with a date, the promise is recorded so you can see it fall due. Nothing is sent without your approval.