Why I built Control

Some of my earliest lessons about unpaid debt came at 4am, in the rain, clamping vehicles over unpaid council tax in tougher parts of London. There was nothing glamorous about it. In those situations there is a person behind the debt, and a decision still has to be made. I learned early that firmness and judgement have to go together.

I moved into office-based credit control and debt recovery, working with independent schools, funeral directors, recruitment firms, blue-chip businesses and a wide range of smaller clients. Over the years I have helped recover tens of millions of pounds and trained more than 200 staff.

Different sectors, different people, same pattern. Payment promised for Friday, then missed again. A dispute. Another email. A conversation nobody wants to have.

An independent school still has a relationship with the family who owe fees. A funeral director needs care and dignity in every discussion. A recruiter may have paid workers long before the client settles the invoice. A supplier has bills and wages due whether customers pay on time or not. The balance has to be collected, but how you collect it matters.

The pressure is sharpest for sole traders and very small businesses. One or two large unpaid invoices can stall their cashflow, even when they have done the work and kept every commitment. They don't have an accounts department to spend all day chasing.

Time and again I have seen the same cycle: a chase, a broken promise, a new date, and the same difficult choice about tone and when to escalate. Workload mounts, relationships strain, and weeks pass.

Control came out of that frustration. I wanted to bring experience and structure into the process earlier: know what is owed, keep promises in writing, understand disputes, surface what genuinely needs a decision and handle ordinary follow-up with proper oversight. It is not a magic wand and it doesn't replace judgement. It is a practical way to stop losing time to the same recurring problems, while each business stays in charge of its own relationships.