Also known as: payment reminders, collections, AR follow-up
Dunning is the process of communicating with clients about overdue payments. It's a sequence of reminders, follow-ups, and escalations that typically starts friendly (3 days past due) and escalates over time (14, 30, 60 days). Good dunning keeps payment expectations clear without damaging the relationship. Bad dunning either loses receivables or alienates clients.
Where you'll see dunning in day-to-day work inside Helm.
Helm ships with built-in dunning sequences for invoices and a Payment Recovery Specialist agent that runs personalized multi-touch outreach tuned to the client, the outstanding amount, and the relationship history. A 20-year client with a $500 late invoice gets a different message than a new client with a $15K balance 45 days overdue. All touches are logged on the invoice for full audit trail.
Concepts that show up in the same workflows and reports.
Common questions and honest answers.
Day 1 past due with a friendly reminder is standard. Silence until 14+ days is how providers signal that deadlines don't matter, and clients learn accordingly.
Good dunning preserves them by making payment timing clear and unemotional. Bad dunning (threatening early, generic dunning that ignores relationship context) damages relationships. The Payment Recovery agent tunes tone and content to the relationship, which matters.
Dunning is in-house customer communication about overdue invoices. Collections typically refers to third-party debt collection for severely delinquent accounts. Helm handles dunning natively; serious collections work happens elsewhere.
Helm is the AI work platform where these concepts stop being theory and start being your Monday morning.