One of the most important aspects of a business is collecting payments from your customers. If you put in hours of work for a project and a customer never pays for it, you’ve wasted your time.
How to Collect Payments from Customers :
- Ask for Payments Upfront.
Quite often, you can avoid invoice challenges by clearly establishing a payment system before you begin working with a new client.
When the client pays up front, you won’t have to worry about sending an invoice afterward.
While not every customer will be willing to pay upfront, many will be agree to paying a portion of your fee in advance.
2. Clearly Communicate Your Expectations.
Regardless of when you get paid, it’s important to iron out all issues regarding payments before you start working with a client. Will you get paid via direct deposit? Paypal? Another online payment program? And, how soon after the project will you send an invoice, and how soon do you expect to receive payment?
Late fees and early payment discounts are also effective at motivating clients to pay invoices on time. However, such terms must be communicated clearly and in advance, as dropping a surprise fee on a client will only hurt your relationship with them.
3. Send Polite Follow-up Emails.
A client might not pay an invoice on time and it’s not always because they’re trying to avoid you. Sometimes the person in charge of processing your invoice might be on holiday, or has left the company or your email might just have accidentally ended up in someone’s spam folder.
When sending a reminder email, it may be helpful to re-attach the invoice. You should also maintain a non-accusatory tone, but clearly state that you haven’t been paid for the work. You can also remind them about the terms included in the original contract to encourage a timely response.
Sometimes, however, an email alone isn’t enough. If you don’t get a response, you might need to reach out with a phone call.
4. Offer a Personalized Invoice Schedule.
5. Contact Other People at the Company.
6. Consider Customer Value.
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