Editor’s note: Yesterday, in part 1 of this 2-part article, attorney Jeff Allen shared the first five tips for collecting more fees. The article concludes below.

6. Send your invoice the day employment commences.

Earlier is too aggressive, while later risks the employer questioning the hire or obtaining the candidate’s cooperation to avoid the fee.

7. Discount the fee for prompt payment.

It’s a well-established business practice, but don’t discount the fee for late payment! This must be strictly an inducement to accelerate the payment.

Whatever discount you want to use is legally acceptable. However, you must also indicate the full fee on your invoice and when it is due. Otherwise, it’s virtually impossible to obtain it later.

8. If the account becomes past due, pursue collection personally.

Why do you think this is recommended?

There are six reasons:

• Preserving the rapport between your recruiter and the client is important in the future.
• The further away from the dispute your recruiter is, the better a witness he will make.
• The recruiter is personally involved, often hungry, and probably worked very hard to make the placement.
• The recruiter is probably not qualified to collect the fee.
• Sometimes a different personality can close the deal.
• It’s your responsibility.

9. Don’t send your placement file to the employer.

More fees are lost by doing this than all of the other mistakes combined.

This is like playing poker with your cards backwards. The result is a complete defense to the employer. This includes a sanitized file and a turncoat candidate.

Whenever some human resourcer says, “Show me why we owe a fee and we’ll pay it,” understand the translation: “Show me why we owe a fee and we’ll show you we can avoid it.”

If you ever feel the compulsion to do this, just ask the employer for its file. That will make you a believer.

10. Refer the matter for collection when it is 30 days past due.

Almost any change in circumstances weakens your position. What can happen?

• Termination of the employee.
• Termination of the person responsible for the fee.
• Promotion or transfer of the employee.
• Termination of your recruiter (maybe over this issue).
• Sale of assets of the employer.
• Insolvency or bankruptcy of the employer.
• Change in corporate structure of the employer (merger, acquisition, etc.)
• Time is always on the employer’s side.

Here are the typical defenses to placement fees (in order of frequency):

• The recruiter did not make the placement (this includes split-fee disputes with other recruiters)…………………………………….30%
• The placement fee is “too high”……………………………….20%
• A fee schedule was not received……………………………….20%
• A trial period was promised (or is customary)…………………10%
• The lower base starting salary does not include commissions, bonuses, or incentives (“salary” versus “compensation”)………….10%
• An invoice was not received……………………………………..5%
• The employer cannot afford to pay………………………………5%

With the exception of the defense that the employer cannot afford to pay (asserted only 5% of the time and often solved by a little patience), The Allen Magic Collect-A-Fee System will help you avoid all of these problems.

The Allen Magic Collect-A-Fee System was actually introduced over 30 years ago. It was unveiled at a California Association of Personnel Consultants convention on the day I was voted in as its General Counsel. The seminar was recorded, and over the next two decades, became the most popular title in the EMPLAW Audio Series. Since then, the 10-point system has been refined as the law, technology, and our business has evolved.

In one way or another, The Allen Magic Collect-A-Fee System is now used in thousands of offices every day. It has also been adapted to collect retainer balances and temp service fees. It’s impossible to know how much has been collected in well-earned fees, but the amount through use of that little $39.95 package is easily in the tens of millions of dollars.

The package came with the guarantee of a free collection from our offices if any recruiter who used the system wasn’t paid. To this day, nobody has ever needed the guarantee; nobody ever asked for a refund either. The system is out of print now, and only those who still have the package get the guarantee.

Here are the details:

1. Obtain any written confirmation of the fee from the employer.

This is done best by emailing or faxing a copy of your customized fee letter to the person responsible for the fee and requesting a signature. You can use a customized cover letter with a fee schedule, but we prefer the fee letter format because it’s more marketable and just as enforceable.

There’s still some reluctance to do this by recruiters, but those who won’t work the search without a signature have almost no receivables.

A hospital in Tennessee has filed a lawsuit against an Atlanta search firm after a new employee’s start date came and went, the director of nursing was a no-show, and the firm kept its $23,000 fee.

Is Management Search Inc. International entitled to the 25% fee? According to this article, the hospital was open to working with the firm to find another candidate for the director of nursing position, but Management Search allegedly never found a qualified replacement.

Any bets on how this lawsuit will pan out?