Isn’t it disheartening to see that they still disagree with paying you after so much you have done for your client? Chasing them all the time to pay your bills is another task for you.
Small businesses face the same problem a lot of times in the course of their activities. Many clients give them a run for their cash.
Each client is different, and so is their working pattern. But, you certainly cannot hamper your image in the market because of client dealings.
Small businesses, in order to manage cash flow and relationships with clients here, are the few suggestions that you can follow to follow up for payments with clients.
Get It In Writing
It is important to get a contract signed at the beginning of your deal. A contract avoids the possibilities of any kind of miscommunication thereafter. A written contract should include all the details about the project you will be working on, i.e. task, time, responsibilities and most importantly your deal amount and payment details.
Use an Invoicing System
A lot of businesses these days have shifted from paper invoicing to online invoicing. The major reason behind this shift is the effective management that these provide to the business. Online invoicing software is more automated options. Online invoicing software such as Invoicera sends automated gentle reminders to clients for due payments, tracks your time, send invoices in real-time and help manage the business efficiently.
Give Early Payment Discounts
In order to encourage clients to pay the bills in time, you can also go a little ahead and give them early payment discounts. Discounts work as a motivator for every buyer and this is no myth. Try attracting your clients with discounts and encourage efficient cash flow in the business. Early payments work as an asset like no other and a little discount to let the cash flow rotating, will harm no business.
Penalize Late Payments
To maintain discipline and decorum in and outside the business with clients, make sure you discourage late payments. A few early reminders initially and then penalizing the late payments will eventually discourage the clients to make late payments. This way you will be able to maintain cash flow cycle in the business without any hurdle. Accept Online Payment with Invoicera’s Online payment service.
Read About: How to Avoid Late Payments Issue For a Healthy Cash Flow
Make Personal Contact
In addition to auto reminders from your Invoicing software, you can also attempt to reach clients with a short email or a phone call. You can enable a gentle conversation by saying something like, “Hi, I just noticed that you have recently received a past due notice from us. Let us know if there’s a problem or if you think our records are wrong.”
Stop Working
Not to be taken as a step too early, but you really need to stop working for the non-paying clients. Sometimes, no matter how hard you work for a few clients your payments in return will not get paid in time or ever. These clients are your working liability and such liabilities are always harmful for your business proceedings.
A few gentle reminders or follow up can work in the initial stage but the organization then needs to take strong action against such clients in order to maintain decorum in and outside the business.
You can gently start with sending automated reminders through Invoicera and then can move on to sending personal Emails or even calling them to follow up for payments. Meeting the clients and discussing the issue should happen in cases of complete ignorance. Try finding a solution initially for the issue. This way you could maintain healthy long term relationships with the clients. But, once you feel everything you tried has got in vein STOP WORKING. This way you can create more pressure and chances are you will get the entire payment. Leaving one bad client to get ten other beneficial ones is always a good idea anyway.
| Know more about: Client Management: Tips to Find, Win, and Retain Clients
Conclusion
It is one real world, neither all business patterns are the same , nor the clients. You might face a lot of such problems with clients often. But, it is clearly up to you on how efficient you are in managing such situations. Businesses should first focus on making all the measures to avoid such possibilities. Some easy steps and awareness can certainly save you from falling into any major crisis. Online invoicing software is becoming a cornerstone for businesses these days. Invoicing Software such as Invoicera is capable of providing you with effective management of billing your clients and managing your business activities. In-built features of time tracking and sending automated payment reminders help in reducing the workload and cloud-based accounting keeps track of all your invoices at one single platform, letting you access it from anywhere with the support of the app.
