With the summer heat here and breaking records you are more aware of using sun block, wearing light colored clothing and drinking more water. You wouldn’t even think of sending your kids to the beach without sun protection on. So why are so many business owners running their business without protection?

This is a classic mistake many new and small business owners make; you start a business that is focused on your product or service and don’t even think about credit terms, policies or payments. You write a business plan, a marketing plan but no credit policy.

A business plan helps you finance your startup and keep things flowing smoothly. Your marketing plan ensures you have something going on to generate more sales and money for your bottom line. A credit policy ensures you have good paying customers that pay on time and are repeat customers.

“For many their business is their “baby” but they don’t take the steps necessary to protect themselves and their business from bad debt, bad checks or slow or non-paying customers,” says Dunn. “In my 17 years of debt collection 9 out of 10 businesses did not have a credit policy in place; this is one of the biggest mistakes you can make.”

Small and new business owners need to be aware that customers who have to fill out forms or credit applications when they set up an account may also take advantage of direct pay options, which lowers your receivables immediately and creates more sales for your business.

As a recognized expert in her industry Dunn has received nationwide press through the years based on her knowledge and expertise in the debt collection industry. Michelle has been featured in Forbes.com, Business NH Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, NH Business Review, NPR, The CBS Early Show and many other national media.

Dunn was a debt collector for 17 years, started and ran her own debt collection agency for 8 years and has written 7 books on the subject of collecting money. The Second Edition to her first book “Starting a Collection Agency” has just been released and Entrepreneur Press is publishing Dunn’s book “The Ultimate Handbook of Credit & Collections, the Check IS in the Mail” on October 1, 2006. Dunn also owns and moderates Credit & Collections a 10 year old online networking community and website with over 978 members.