Any persons working for them-selves will tell you that one of the worst things is chasing a payment.
So to avoid the chasing after your money thing, do this
- Make your payment policy clear right at the start of the project.
- Send or hand deliver bills right away and highlight payment terms and due dates.
- Do not always insist on cash in the hand; do accept electronic payments.
- Do not be afraid to charge a penalty amount if a bill is not paid on time.
- Put the penalty warning in a prominent color on the bottom of your bill and point it out to your customers.
- Follow up the very next day after your payment was due and continue every day after that until you receive your money.
- Have an ‘overdue’ stamp made to stamp on a follow up bill.
- Follow up on the warnings to be taken seriously.
- Be persistent and do not be afraid that this will jeopardize your future relationship with the customer.
- Do not be relaxed just because a client has been good at paying in the past: just always ask for your payments when they are due.
- Don’t be rude to your clients but be polite while all the time having the mindset that you’re entitled to be paid.
- Do not crawl into a shell and stay quiet-call your client and tell them about the balance due and when you intend to see them to collect it.
- Ask someone else to follow up on your unpaid accounts, even if it’s your spouse, brother, mother or a debt collector.
- Keep track of payment patterns for existing customers because this will help you catch any changes that could be a potential problem.
- Focus on having a diverse customer base so that a payment problem with one customer does not put your entire business at risk.
- Make the process convenient and easy to receive and pay bills.
- Be flexible if necessary on large outstanding amounts because splitting a bill into two manageable portions, may be your best chance of payment.
- Much as you would like to move on to the next job do not finish it; hold back enough so that they will need to pay you before you deliver the finished job.
- Don’t give friends, the friends of your friends or even your family any special treatment. If anything, treat them with even less trust than a stranger because often they are the first to take advantage of you.
- If the customer is happy to pay up front – accept the offer!
