JEAN Gonsalves of Johannesburg-based business performance enhancement company Actionwise International believes business owners should not be involved in debt collection.

"It is an entirely different role to the one the owner of a business should play," she says. "The owner is a visionary responsible for reach-out projects, the organisation's best public relations person.

"The debt collector, on the other hand, is not necessarily a good guy. If this person is pleasant and gentle, you will have plenty of outstanding monies." She recommends outsourcing, "for example, to your outsourced bookkeeper, for a small fee of 10% of the debt".

Prevention, Gonsalves says, means setting up financial systems, reports and analysis to be reviewed weekly.

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