Do you feel as though your customers aren’t paying you as quickly as they should be? If so then now is the time for you to take action on that. If you have customers who are always paying you late then this can be a major detriment to your business. You may also find that you end up paying your suppliers late as a result, which is the last thing you need. If you need some help here then simply take a look below to see what you can do to try and turn things around.
Prepare a Written Agreement
Whether you have signed a new customer or whether you are renewing one of your contracts, it’s so important that you summarize your payment terms and that you also take the time to go over any payment details. Discuss the contract you have and go over your wording properly. If you can make it clear and if you can help your customers to identify the payments you are accepting and when they have to be made then this will help you to run your business far more efficiently.
Have Stricter Terms
Another thing that may help is if you have stricter payment terms. Offering flexible payment terms is a very smart move if you want to try and keep your customers happy, and if you can show them that paying is convenient for them then this will help you a lot in the future. Putting set terms in place will give you more confidence when dealing with late payers and it will also make it easier for you to keep money coming into your business over the long run.
Follow a Payment Schedule
You also need to tighten your payment schedule. If you have planned on sending invoices on the first of each month then this is great, but let your customers know this. Set up payments automatically too as this will help your customers with their cash flow management. YOu may also find that it helps you to give automatic penalties if there is ever an issue, so your customers aren’t taking it personally, and so you don’t have to issue warnings yourself.
Ask for Payment Upfront
You also need to try and ask for payment upfront if you can. If you don’t ask for payment upfront then you may find that you end up missing out when they pay late. If you have customers who have always paid you late then this is a good way for you to work around it. If they are not willing to pay you beforehand then they need to have a good reason, otherwise they are purposely avoiding paying you because they know they can get around it. If you want to ask for payments upfront when working on jobs then one thing you can do is get a Payanywhere mobile credit card reader here. This is a great way for you to get the result you want out of your payments and invoices.
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