Receivables at 60–90 days: the five-tier follow-up sequence, without a formal demand letter.

Why a sequence, and not follow-ups “when we think of it”

In a small business, follow-up depends on whether the office has time. The Friday set aside for follow-ups becomes a Friday on the job site, and the invoice ages in silence. A written sequence changes three things: the follow-up goes out on a fixed date, the tone is decided in advance rather than in the heat of the moment, and the owner sees at a glance where each file stands.

This guide applies to commercial invoices claimed from a business, in the ordinary course of business. It does not apply to consumers, personal guarantors or files already in dispute. It is not legal advice: formal demand letters, legal hypothecs and remedies fall to your advisors.

Before following up: three checks

1. The receivable is accurate. Amount, due date, purchase order or contract, attachments. A follow-up on an incorrect invoice costs more than the late payment itself.
2. Nothing is blocking on the client’s side. Missing release, notice of contract (dénonciation), certificate, invoice sent to the wrong address: an invoice can be late simply because it is not yet “payable” in the client’s system.
3. One person is in charge. A single named person, who approves and sends each communication from the company’s account.

The five tiers

Tier 0 · Three days before the due date

A courtesy note, never a follow-up: “Invoice 3178 comes due on the 15th; if a document is missing to process it, let us know.” It is the most useful message in the sequence: it surfaces obstacles before the due date.

Tier 1 · Five days after the due date

Short email, neutral tone, a single question: the expected payment date. Good faith is assumed: “If payment is already on its way, please disregard this message.”

Tier 2 · Twenty days after the due date

An email that names the gap (“20 days past due”), offers to resolve any obstacle this week, and announces what comes next: a call on a specific date if there is no news by then. Announcing the next step, then doing it, is what gives the sequence its weight.

Tier 3 · Thirty-five days after the due date

The announced call. A single objective: agree on a payment date, or on a schedule if the amount is large. The promise is noted, confirmed by email the same day, and the date is entered in the table.

Tier 4 · Fifty days after the due date, or as soon as a promise is broken

The file leaves the follow-up process and goes up to the owner, with the complete history. The owner decides: a payment plan, suspension of the work if the contract allows it, or handing the file to legal advisors or to a licensed agency. At this tier, the office no longer follows up.

The rules that hold the sequence together

• One tone, not five. The same courteous, formal register from tier 0 to tier 3. Pressure comes from regularity, not from words.
• One channel per tier. Email at tiers 0 to 2, phone at tier 3. No follow-up by text message: you never know who is reading the phone of a general contractor or project owner.
• Everything is dated and recorded. Each send, each call, each promise, in the aging table. If the file ends up with an advisor, the history is ready.
• A disputed file leaves immediately. As soon as a client disputes the amount, the quality of the work or the contract, the follow-up stops and the file goes up to the owner. A disputed receivable is never followed up “just to see.”
• Limits that are not negotiable. No threats, including of legal action, no repeated pressure, and no document that looks like one from a court or a government. Never a hint that anyone else will be told about the delay, and never a claim for more than what is owed: no collection fee or penalty added in a follow-up without your advisors’ opinion. Payment is requested from the debtor company only. If the client asks in writing that you go through its lawyer, or a person says they are not the debtor, the follow-up stops and the file goes up to the owner. These limits follow, and sometimes tighten, the conduct rules of Quebec’s Act respecting the collection of certain debts, which apply to anyone claiming a debt, including a business following up on its own invoices.
• Holdbacks and extras have their own line. A contractual holdback to claim at acceptance of the work and a time-and-material extra not yet invoiced are not delays: they are invoices that do not exist yet. They are tracked separately, with their date.

What the table must show

One line per invoice: client, job site, amount, due date, days overdue, tier reached, last action and its date, next action and its date, payment promise if there is one, person in charge. Grouped by job site, the table shows which project is draining cash; grouped by client, it shows who chronically pays late.

What a sequence does not do

It does not make a client who disputes pay, it does not replace a poorly drafted contract, and it guarantees no payment timeframe. It does one thing, but it does it every time: it keeps an invoice from being forgotten.

If you want it to run without depending on whether the office has time, that is exactly what we install in our receivables systems: drafts prepared according to your rules, an aging table, holdback and extras alerts, and a one-page monthly report. Your team approves and sends; we maintain the process.