That is not insolvency. That is a priority list, and you are not on it.
The company is still open. The warehouse is still shipping. The employees are still getting paid. The debtor's other suppliers — the ones with leverage, the ones with contracts that have teeth, the ones who will shut off the supply if payment is late by a day — are being paid on time. Your invoice sits at the bottom of the pile, ageing quietly, because you have not given the debtor a reason to move it up.
You have been patient. You have been professional. You have been easy to ignore.
Why you are at the bottom
Debtors in cash flow pressure do not stop paying everyone simultaneously. They triage. They pay the suppliers they cannot lose first — the ones whose products are essential to operations, the ones who will cut them off, the ones whose contracts include automatic penalties for late payment. Then they pay the statutory obligations — taxes, social contributions, employee wages. Then, if anything remains, they pay the suppliers who are patient.
Your invoice is at the bottom because your position has no consequence attached. No penalty clause. No supply interruption. No automatic interest accrual being enforced. No escalation timeline communicated. You sent emails. You were understanding. You accepted "next month." The debtor learned, through your behaviour, that your invoice is the safest one to defer.
This is not a judgment of your character. It is a description of incentive structures.
How to move up the list
Attach a consequence. This is not about being aggressive. It is about being structural. The suppliers at the top of the debtor's priority list are not angrier than you. They have better terms.
Formal notification of late payment interest — EU Directive 2011/7 entitles you to a minimum of 8% above the ECB reference rate, charged automatically, without needing to include it in your contract. Most creditors do not enforce this. Begin enforcing it. Send the calculation.
A clear escalation timeline communicated in writing. "If payment is not received by [date], we will refer this matter to our collection partner." The debtor must believe this will happen. If you have said it before and not followed through, they do not believe it. Follow through.
Referral to a professional agency. This is the single most effective way to change your position on the priority list. The debtor receives a communication — not from you but from a firm whose business is collecting debts, in the debtor's language, referencing the applicable law. The invoice moves from "patient supplier" to "active case." The category shift changes the payment priority overnight.
The precedent problem
If this debtor pays you after six months of delays, you have established a precedent. The debtor knows your real payment terms are six months, regardless of what the invoice says. The next invoice will follow the same pattern. So will the one after that.
Breaking this precedent requires an action the debtor cannot ignore. Not a firmer email — a structural change. Engaging a collection agency is the most efficient structural change available because it is external to the relationship. The debtor is not dealing with a frustrated supplier. They are dealing with a professional firm that operates on a different timeline and a different set of incentives.
The relationship question (again)
You are worried that escalating will damage the relationship. Consider the relationship you currently have. A client who pays you last, who ignores your emails, who treats your payment terms as suggestions — that is not a relationship. It is a subsidy.
Collection does not end relationships. It reprices them. After the debt is resolved, the client knows your terms are real. Future invoices are paid on time — not because the client likes you more, but because the cost of not paying has been established.
The debtor who pays everyone except you will continue doing so until you give them a reason to stop. Reasons work. Patience does not.
James Harrington
International Recovery Strategist