Our accounts receivable and collections seat is currently empty because it is a confrontational, high-stress role that nobody on our finance team wants to own. How do we solve this undesirable seat problem without hiring an expensive outside collections agency?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a seat is left empty because nobody wants it, the responsibilities end up scattered across multiple team members, leading to sloppy execution and cash flow bottlenecks. To solve this, you must first clarify the exact roles of this collections seat on your Accountability Chart. Do not let the team dodge the work because it is uncomfortable.

If you cannot afford an outside agency, you have to look internally at GWC. GWC stands for Get It, Want It, and Capacity to do it. You need to find someone who actually wants the seat. Sometimes, the issue is that you have combined collections with a customer relations or sales support seat, which creates a conative conflict. A person wired to please customers will naturally resist collecting overdue bills.

Use a tool like the Kolbe Index to look for someone on your team who has a strong Follow Thru and does not mind holding firm boundaries. If you find someone with the right cognitive and conative fit, you can make this a dedicated part time seat. Alternatively, you can automate the first eighty percent of the collections sequence using automated billing systems and email cadences, reducing the human labor of the seat to only the most difficult escalations. Write the seat clearly, assign a single name to it, and hold them accountable to a clear cash flow metric on your weekly Scorecard.