If you have been doing business for a certain amount of time, you will know that it is your responsibility to ensure clients pay on time. Also, you understand the frustration you go through when clients do not pay; either they lose the invoice, pay late, disappear with your money or conveniently forget. You will always have a hard time running a business if you are not getting the fruits of your labor and hard work.
To solve this kind of situation, you will need to learn some tricks to make your clients pay you on time or simply just pay off the debt. Below are a few strategies you can implement in your business to increase the chance of getting paid in time.
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Be organized with the invoice
Sometimes it is hard to keep track of your invoicing activities when running your business. Some businesses require too much time while others demand your presence in other areas, which makes you forget to send invoices to your clients. Because of that, it is important to stay organized with your invoice activities with online tools like invoice maker. You will enjoy some free services when making your invoice to ensure your clients don’t have an excuse for not paying or late payments.
Some business people go a step further and use written documents to show the number of times they have invoices and how much. This is basically an addition to outsourcing and using online tools. Because of that, you will keep better tabs on your financial status and remind your clients to pay what they owe.
Create and enforce late payment fee
Nothing will make your client want to pay you on time, like making them pay extra when they are late. Therefore, enforce the late payment fee and ensure it is included in the client agreement. Indicate the amount of the late payment fee and when it is supposed to be paid to you. The mechanism is to make your client fear paying late: the fear will always work to your advantage.
Use follow-up emails
Many things can happen to your client and prevent them from paying you on time. For example, corporate clients will be late in paying since their offices (accounting department) will not be open during holidays and weekends. Also, weather like heavy rain or snow can prevent your client from paying on time since businesses, including banks, will be closed.
Not everyone tries to avoid paying you; sometimes, life can get in the way. Therefore, you must send follow-up emails to ensure they remember the day to pay. Writing dozens of emails can be daunting, but delegating tasks to your virtual assistant can make your business run efficiently.
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Ask to be paid bit by bit
Asking for a portion is another great way to ensure you get your full money by the deadline. Some businesses will only start to work once they get the deposit. This will also ensure that you have at least something if the client decides to disappear later. You can request for a 50% deposit then the rest when the job is complete.
Offer discounts
You can offer a discount for early payments to sweeten the deal and make them want to pay you on time. For example, you can give them a 5% discount if they pay within five days.
Conclusion
There are many ways you can ensure clients pay on time when starting your business. You can be organized with your invoicing, create and enforce a late payment fee, use follow-up emails, ask to be paid bit by bit, or offer discounts.
Try out a few of these methods and see which ones work best for you and your business.