Comments on: Slow paying clients

By: Becky McCray

Becky McCray — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 21:05:01 +0000

Ian, we’re going to give you bonus points for disclosing your self promotion up front. Now, if you were only from a small town… :)
Thanks for sharing your service. Looks like a good thing if you invoice the same clients repeatedly.

By: Ian Sweeney

Ian Sweeney — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:50:05 +0000

Thanks for a great article and the really great comments with practical advice.

Apologies for the self promotion, but I think its relevant to small businesses getting paid quicker. When a customer receives your invoice (and everyone else's), they need to get the information from the pdf or paper invoice into their accounting system. This has to be done before payment can occur. That step obviously
takes time and slows things for them and you.

Emailing a computer readable invoice means they can suck the invoice straight into their accounting system without error. They save time and pay you quicker - a win-win for everybody.

We started a company to deliver this functionality to small businesses and the product is called billFLO. It works with lots of accounting systems including Freshbooks and Quickbooks. And, its free! You can check it out at www.billflo.com

Kind regards,
Ian Sweeney
CEO billFLO

By: Becky McCray

Becky McCray — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 13:47:37 +0000

Yelena, you've not only learned a great deal, but you have shared it very well! These things are easy to write about, until they happen to you.

I encourage everyone to read Yelena's story: http://oneclickva.com/how-to-avoid-deadbeat-clients/

By: Yelena

Yelena — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 04:07:42 +0000

Becky, your tips on setting up an invoicing system are great. I use Quickbooks which takes care of the first 2 steps. Speaking of re-invoicing and escalating though – I recently had a situation where a very large client was very late on some big invoices (over 4 months late). It took me a while to get the money back (I wrote about the whole process and lessons learned here – http://oneclickva.com/how-to-avoid-deadbeat-clients/).

The entire process was nerve-wrecking and basically ended our long-term work arrangement on a very sour note. Ever since then my invoice rule is I don’t do any new work until the outstanding invoice is paid in full.

By: Becky McCray

Becky McCray — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:21:50 +0000

Denise, well, that is one lesson learned. But you make a good point: be sure you are spelling out terms in writing with all your clients.

By: Denise McGill

Denise McGill — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:13:00 +0000

As a writer, I sell a service versus a product. I find that if I negotiate payment terms - in writing- before a project is started, I have much better luck in collecting. A simple email, with the client agreeing to the terms, has been enough. I include a small discount in the invoice if it is paid before the due date.

I had one client early in my career that would not put terms in writing and would only make verbal promises. I knew it was a red flag, but being a hungry copywriter, I kept my fingers crossed that the client would pay. You can guess the rest. I chock it up to a lesson learned early on and have never repeated it since.

By: Becky McCray

Becky McCray — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:14:25 +0000

Thanks, Joan, for your perspective.

By: Joan Petruska

Joan Petruska — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:07:22 +0000

There will always be issues on payment regardless of the method of invoicing. What we need to address is our weaknesses (personal and business) and how they impact our receivables.

Daria uses the "low-tech" approach. She is obviously very well organized, well disciplined, and perceptive of her weakness (electronic bookkeeping). Her strengths are definitely used to her advantage in her invoicing method.

Like Chris, we have found that an online system works best, especially when we can schedule (as Chris did) the "coming due" reminders and "past-due" notices without relying on our memories (some days I need an infusion of RAM), a calendar, or day-to-day hurdles. This "auto-mail" allows us to focus on the current job and customer!

The fact that we can construct our own e-mails worded as graciously yet firmly as we want is a big asset.

And there is a definite difference between online accounting and online invoicing programs. The accounting program is "Bookkeeping" oriented -- let's keep track of our cost of doing business.

The invoicing program focuses on: do the work, send the invoice, get the money. And, hey, let's look professional and eco-friendly while doing it!

Will we always have s..l..o..w or non-payers? Yes.

And as Becky said - whole 'nother article.

By: Becky McCray

Becky McCray — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:58:51 +0000

I think that is a whole ‘nother article.

By: Small Business

Small Business — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:47:59 +0000

You must weed out unprofitable customers (read the BusinessWeek.com, Oct./Nov., 2007 article). Every company has customers that cost more than they add to the bottom line. Identify them, evaluate how to make them profitable customers, and if that’s not possible, politely hand them to your competition.