In many companies, customer collection is still seen as the exclusive domain of accounting or credit management. But this vision is now outdated. Cash management is a collective, strategic and cross-functional issue.
Today, finance departments, credit managers and even senior executives recognize that sales teams have a decisive role to play in managing receivables.
Involving sales people in the collection process is not a luxury: it’s an operational necessity, provided it’s done right.
Why salespeople are essential to customer collection
From the very first contact with the customer, the sales person lays the foundations of the relationship. He negotiates prices, payment terms, deadlines, and even first invoices. Its positioning upstream of the customer cycle puts it in a key position to anticipate the risk of non-payment.
But that’s not all. Here’s why you need to actively involve your sales force in cash management:
- They are on the front line of customer relations: meetings, negotiations, responding to objections… They have privileged contact with decision-makers.
- They know the history and the intricacies: VIP status, order context, current projects, customer validation cycle, and so on.
- They can unblock a payment situation by their posture: a simple reminder from a salesperson can be enough to defuse a blockage or obtain a commitment.
- They can anticipate delays or disputes: by detecting a risk of dissatisfaction or a change of contact early on, they enable finance to act before the deadline.
A well-informed sales person can prevent a problem. An involved salesperson can solve it.
Discover Aston Cash Collection, the automated collection software that
turns your accounts receivable into a growth lever created by Aston AI.
Classic obstacles... and how to overcome them
Despite this evidence, the involvement of sales staff in customer collection remains limited. Why?
The brakes are well known:
- “It’s not my role
- “I don’t have access to collection information”.
- “I’m going to be asked to do the accountant’s job”.
These objections are understandable. After all, it’s not a question of turning a sales rep into a reminder manager. It’s about intelligently integrating the sales rep into the cash value chain, without overloading him or her.
This implies 3 key conditions:
- Give them access to the right information, at the right time.
- Training in key indicators (e.g. scoring, receivables, overdue items).
- Enable them to interact in a simple, useful way, without weighing down their daily lives.
Aston AI: a solution designed for salespeople too
Read the user reviews of those who have decided to place their trust in Aston AI for their collections.
At Aston AI, we designed the Cash Collection platform with this reality in mind.
The aim: to facilitate collaboration between finance, collections and sales forces. Here’s how:
A mobile application dedicated to sales representatives:
- Synthetic customer view: outstandings, invoices due, payment scoring
- Dunning timeline: to understand ongoing and failed dunning campaigns
- Possible actions: comment, validate a promise, notify a dispute
- Push alerts: in the event of overdrafts, broken promises, urgent blockages, etc.
A collaborative platform :
- Cross-visibility: sales and finance teams have access to the same up-to-date data
- Smooth transmission of information: no more emails or double entries
- Rapid intervention in scenarios: a CSM or salesperson can be integrated into a reminder stage to avoid escalation.
Sales remains focused on customer relations, but becomes an active cash lever.
Real-life examples of field use
Here are 3 typical situations in which salespeople play a decisive role thanks to Aston AI:
Before a customer appointment :
The salesperson consults the Aston AI app: total outstanding, any overdue amounts, risk scoring, past disputes. He adapts his speech:
“I see there’s a slight delay on the September invoice. Is there a problem on the validation side?”
The result: a topic anticipated, a deadlock avoided, a climate of trust reinforced.
In case of unanswered reminder:
An e-mail or letter reminder remains without effect. The platform then sends a notification to the sales rep. He calls his direct contact, obtains a payment commitment or clarification on a dispute. He comments on the information in Aston AI.
Result: processing time divided by 2.
In the closing phase :
A long-standing customer wants a new order, but his scoring is borderline.
The sales rep justifies the solidity of the relationship, the current project, the exceptional delays.
Result: On this basis, management grants a tolerance or releases the shipment.
Order validated, collection secured.
Aston AI customer results
Companies that involve their sales teams via Aston AI see rapid, measurable gains:
- +15% collection on D+30
- Dispute processing times cut by 2
- Significant improvement in customer satisfaction
(fewer misperceived reminders, greater clarity)
But also :
- Better interdepartmental coordination
- A shared vision of the customer relationship
A stronger cash culture throughout the company.
Best practices for smooth collaboration
Do you want to involve your sales staff effectively in collections? Here are 4 practical best practices to implement:
Training in customer scoring :
A salesperson is not a credit analyst. But if they understand the logic of a score (average delay, incidents, disputes), they know where to focus their attention.
Integrate cash into qualitative objectives:
There’s no need for collection bonuses. But incorporating cash indicators into the evaluation process (rate of outstanding receivables, rate of resolved disputes, etc.) does reward good reflexes.
Celebrating cash-friendly behavior:
A salesperson who facilitates a promise or speeds up a payment deserves positive feedback.
This creates a virtuous dynamic within the team.
Creating simple routines :
Examples:
- 15-minute weekly finance/business meeting
- Automatic summary sent to the salesperson before the appointment
- Notification as soon as a threshold is crossed
Involving sales staff: a strategic lever for securing cash
Involving sales staff in customer collection doesn’t mean asking them to send out reminders. It means enabling them to act at the right time, with the right information, in partnership with the finance teams.
With Aston AI, this collaboration becomes simple, fluid and natural.
The result?
More cash, less litigation, and a stronger company.
The 1st mobile application for receivables management.
Aston AI is pursuing its ambition to offer a collaborative platform for credit management, collections and customer invoice tracking, designed to align all company teams around the same financial reality.
Our new mobile version, directly connected to Aston Cash Collection, embodies this commitment.
It connects finance, collection, sales and administration teams in real time, providing them with a shared, operational and up-to-date view of customer receivables.
Thanks to this mobile management system, before or after an appointment, sales staff can consult a clear, concise customer file, including :
current and past-due receivables,
late payments,
pending promises or litigation,
as well as all past and future actions.
This is a major step forward for mobile receivables management, and a first in the SaaS collections market.
