Getting paid faster without chasing
Chasing money is the part of the job nobody started a business to do. Most of it is avoidable, and the avoidable part comes down to four things that happen before the invoice is late.
Invoice the day the work finishes
The single biggest factor in when you get paid is when you invoiced. An invoice sent the same day gets paid noticeably sooner than one sent at the end of the month, and not only because it went out earlier. It arrives while the customer still remembers the work, is pleased with it, and has not had four other bills land in between.
An invoice sent three weeks later arrives as an interruption. One sent the same afternoon arrives as the end of a job that went well.
If invoicing at the end of the month is what you do because that is when you sit down to do paperwork, that habit is costing you weeks of cash flow.
Make paying take one tap
Bank details on a PDF means the customer has to open their banking app, type an account number, type a reference, and get both right. That is four opportunities to put it off, and people put it off.
A link that opens a page where they can pay immediately removes all of it. The difference is substantial, and it is larger for smaller amounts - people will pay 180 on the spot from a phone and will defer the same 180 if it needs a bank transfer.
Getting a card payment costs you a percentage. It is almost always less than what waiting three extra weeks costs you.
Take a deposit on anything substantial
For a job of any size, a deposit before you start does three things. It covers your materials so you are not financing the customer. It commits them, which cuts cancellations. And it means the final invoice is smaller, and smaller invoices get paid faster.
A third up front, a third on start, a third on completion is a common structure for larger work. For a day job, half on booking is reasonable.
Anyone who objects to a deposit on a job that requires you to buy materials is telling you something worth hearing.
Set the terms before the work, not on the invoice
Payment terms on an invoice are an announcement. Payment terms in the quote are an agreement.
If the quote says payment is due on completion, and the customer accepted the quote, then the invoice is not introducing anything. If the first mention of terms is the invoice itself, you are negotiating after the work is done, which is the worst possible time.
Keep the terms short. Thirty days is a convention from a world of posted cheques. For a domestic customer, on completion is normal and nobody blinks.
When it is late anyway
Some will be. A reminder the day after it was due, politely and automatically, recovers most of them - a large share of late invoices are simply forgotten rather than refused.
The escalation that works is boring and consistent: a reminder the day after, another a week later, then a phone call. What does not work is silence for six weeks followed by anger.
Keep a record of what was sent and when. If it ever goes further than a phone call, the timeline is what matters.
The four changes
- Invoice the same day the work finishes
- Make it payable in one tap rather than a bank transfer
- Take a deposit on anything with materials in it
- Put the terms in the quote, not on the invoice