How Do You Make Sure Customers Pay Your Invoices?

Here at Chromium Bookkeeping in Peterborough, we speak to business owners all the time and their most common complaint is that they cannot get their clients to pay the invoices on time. If you find that you are sending out invoice after invoice but they are just not getting paid then continue reading for some advice on how you can get your clients to pay your invoices.

Add ‘Overdue’ Fees

Plan out payment terms and make sure these are clearly stated on the invoice, decide how long you will give your customers to pay your invoices before the additional fees are added on. It can be tricky to add this on to invoices for existing clients but if the client doesn’t pay on time and you do charge the ‘overdue’ fee it is unlikely they will pay late again!

Speak With Clients

If you are dealing with a larger company you will find they have an accounts department, the accounts department may not know you and your little ‘reminder emails’ may not even be acknowledged. Pick up the phone, speak to someone in the Accounts Team and then you become a ‘real person’ and it is much more likely they will get the payments made.

Keep Payment Terms Short

If your clients get an amazing service from you and they are happy with the work you do for them, why shouldn’t they pay quickly? 30 days payment terms may be the ‘norm’ but wouldn’t it be better if you were paid the week after you did the work?

Call Early & Call Often

As soon as a client is overdue on their payment make contact with them. Even better, as soon as the invoice have been sent, call them the next day to ensure they have received it and there are no issues.

Send them a reminder by email a few days before the payment is due and then follow that up with a phone call when they are a few days overdue. Don’t let them think they can pay you when they get round to it – you need to make sure they know your payment terms and that they need to stick to them. If you don't have time to do this, give Chromium Bookkeeping a call and we'll be happy to help.

When it comes to business, sending the invoice is only part of the ‘getting paid’ process, in every business you will always have some clients that pay on time and some clients that will need to be prompted.

If you have trouble getting your invoices paid, give us a call – we are always happy to help you organise your invoicing procedures or even chase payments from clients on your behalf!

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