Nobody likes sending this message. You are afraid of offending, of looking like someone who chases money, of losing a customer you have known for years. So you wait. And the debt grows, and the message gets even harder to send.
Here is what actually works: remind early, remind gently, and remind in writing.
Why reminding early is kinder than reminding late
A customer who has owed 3,000 FCFA for ten days pays easily. The same customer who has owed 18,000 FCFA for two months avoids your shop, because they are embarrassed, and because they no longer have the sum in one go.
The early reminder is not pressure, it is a service: it stops the debt reaching the amount where it becomes a problem for them. Every week of delay makes the payment harder and the relationship colder.
The simple rule: first message at ten days without a payment, whatever the amount.
Message 1: the Saturday reminder (at ten days)
Send to every customer who has paid nothing for ten days. Short, neutral, with the figure.
Good evening Mama Kadi, this is the shop Chez Élise. A small reminder: your account is at 4,500 F (soap and oil from the 3rd). Come by whenever suits you this week. Have a good evening!
What matters: the first name, the exact amount, what was taken, and an open door ("whenever suits you"). No "urgent", no string of exclamation marks.
Message 2: the reminder with a date (at three weeks)
If the first message got nothing, you add a date. Not a threat: a proposal.
Hello Mama Kadi, I'm coming back to you about the 4,500 F on the account. Would Saturday suit you to come by? If it's complicated, tell me what is possible and we'll work it out.
"Tell me what is possible" is the key phrase. It turns a reminder into a conversation. Many customers reply "I'll pay 2,000 on Saturday and the rest at month end". Take it. A partial payment beats silence, and you write it in the book.
Message 3: paying in two parts (when the customer says "not now")
No problem. Shall we do 2,000 F on Saturday and 2,500 F on the 30th? I'll note it that way on your account.
You have just done two things: kept the customer, and turned a vague debt into two precise dates. The book carries both due dates. If the first is honoured, the second almost always will be.
Message 4: the firm reminder (at six weeks)
Two messages without a reply, no visit to the shop. Time to be clear, still polite.
Hello Mr Tchoua. The account has been at 12,000 F since 20 July and I have had no answer to my two messages. I am asking you to come and settle before Friday. I will not be able to give further credit until the account is cleared.
The last sentence is the only useful "sanction": no more credit, no humiliation. It is proportionate, it is logical, and it protects the shop.
Message 5: when the debt is written off
Some will not pay. At three months without a partial payment or a reply, write the debt off in your book, with the date. Do not let it inflate the total for a year. And do not send a sixth message: you have the written record of the first four, it is enough if the customer ever comes back.
One last message, purely factual, closes the door cleanly:
Hello Mr Tchoua, I am closing the account at 12,000 F unpaid as of today. If you wish to settle it later, the shop is still open. All the best.
What makes all this possible: one account per customer, up to date
None of these messages can go out if you do not know, to the minute, what each customer owes. A gentle reminder with the wrong figure is worse than no reminder. That is why everything starts with a debt book that adds up, and with a ceiling per customer set in advance (how much credit to give).
In Remora Sales, every credit customer has an account: what they took, what they paid, what is left, and the date of the last payment. On Saturday, the list of those who have paid nothing for ten days reads at a glance, and the reminder goes out from the account, in one tap, on Nyocte or on WhatsApp, with the right amount written in it. You no longer copy a figure, or look up the number.
If reminders are the part of the trade you always push to tomorrow, request a setup: we load your credit customers with their balances before the first morning, and on the first Saturday, the reminders go out.