And, as far as I know, you are not a charity. So why are you lending clients money by allowing them extended credit or even working for free?
Here are some tips to help you collect money faster:
- Invoice promptly. Xero can help with repeating invoices, invoicing from quotes, and invoicing from your phone while on site
- For longer contracts consider getting paid up front or in instalments. Minerva’s clients pay us over 12 months as we are doing work for them throughout the year with monthly bookkeeping health checks and other advice as a minimum
- Make it easy for people to pay you. Make sure that your bank details are on your invoice. Our regular clients pay by direct debit through Gocardless. We can also take payment by card and there is a button for this on our invoices or we use Zettle to take payments for booksales at conferences etc.
- Send invoice reminders. We can help clients to set up the automated reminders in Xero. The first one is just a polite enquiry to check that they have received the invoice and that everything is alright. Later ones are more severe. If clients require more functionality we can help them with Satago or Chaser.io
- Credit check your clients with an app like Satago.
- Be prepared to take legal action. Clients pay for their services. Requesting services without the means to pay is like shoplifting. If they’re not paying they’re definitely not clients. Clients ghosting you is definitely a broken relationship, get paid and get out!
You work hard so you deserve to be paid.