Comments on: Getting Delinquent Clients to Pay You on Time

By: Tips from the Trenches: Get Your Clients to Pay Up

Tips from the Trenches: Get Your Clients to Pay Up — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 23:01:36 +0000

[...] and collect fast and people struggling to keep their businesses afloat. We’ve provided some tips on dealing with non-paying clients previously, but here are some techniques used by businesses that have have collected payment without breaking [...]

By: Daily Links | AndySowards.com :: Professional Web Design, Development, Programming, Hacks, Downloads, Math and being a Web 2.0 Hipster?

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 01:05:03 +0000

[...] WebWorkerDaily » Archive Getting Delinquent Clients to Pay You on Time « GREAT Post! Get paid on time! (tags: employment payment tips reference entrepreneurship freelancing money business freelance clients consulting advice) [...]

By: Brian

Brian — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:49:30 +0000

Another small, but sometimes overlooked detail is to put an actual due date on the invoice, rather than just saying “Due within 14 days.” Keeping that due date right in front of them rather than making them figure it out is important.

By: Grab bag of excellent reading

Grab bag of excellent reading — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:32:02 +0000

[...] Every once in a while I come across an article that I agree wholeheartedly with…over the past months I have collected several that particularly stood out to me on various topics. All of these have the common theme of efficiency. So lets get to them….the first is called Meetings suck, but they don’t have to… this post gives some very good guidelines to have effective meetings. The second I would like to point you to is called Productivity 2.0 and it talks about how the rules of productivity are changing…I don’t agree 100% with everything in this article, but it definitely has some good advice. The third post is about creativity killers and ways to avoid them…be sure to read 5 Creativity Killers! And last, but definitely not least is an excellent post with tips on how to get your clients to pay punctually…I especially liked the tip about offering a 5% discount to clients who pay on time…read this excellent article here. [...]

By: ngmatthews

ngmatthews — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:29:35 +0000

The issue I have had is when working with a large global corporation, my invoice went into their accounts department and disappeared into a void.

The call centre for their invoices was in Bangalore, and my complaints to my client were routed there instead of to him.

I was eventually paid, but 90 days after the due date, it has made me re-consider working with large corps as a single person company. They completely wrecked my cash flow (it was a long term project)and I was forced to take out an overdraft on the invoice to keep myself afloat.

By: Kate

Kate — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:52:28 +0000

I hate it when this happens, but as for the total deadbeats you would be amazed that some collections agencies will take on the problem of collecting for 30% of the debt owed, even when it is a small debt. Sure you’re only getting 70% in the end, but that’s better than 0. I have also found that just mentioning it as a recourse in the contract will make most people think twice about stiffing you.

By: Misty Cryer-Davidson

Misty Cryer-Davidson — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:54:53 +0000

I never make a statement like “payment due on completion”. A few of my clients felt that the project wasn’t completed until they had requested and received revisions and if they have that mindset, you may not ever get paid. My final payment is due on submission of first draft or within 15 days of first draft.

By: ethnicomm

ethnicomm — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 16:43:40 +0000

If you’re discounting your service to get paid on time, something is wrong. Communicate the terms up front, bill on time and vigorously follow up. Most people are not deliberately delaying payment, they’re just busy and your priority is not necessarily their priority. Make it easy for them to pay you. Use paypal, accept credit cards/phone payments…

If you cannot float a payment and feel that you must offer early payment terms, build that into your quote. If you end up paying the discount, you still net out to the amount that you would have originally accepted. If you get paid late, you get a bit more for your trouble.

By: Jeff Gordon

Jeff Gordon — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:44:51 +0000

Great article! I agree with the bulk of your comments except for the suggestion to offer an early-pay discount.

As someone who has been on the procurement side of things AND has worked as a freelancer, I can tell you that I would LOVE to see discounts when I work for corporations. We have the capability to pay quickly and for the right discount, will make it happen. And as a freelancer, I would also like my clients to pay on time.

But as much as I’m a negotiator who drives a hard bargain, I believe in honest pay for honest work. As a result, I’m in the “stick” camp versus a carrot. So if you agreed to $x. for y work, then that’s what it should be. Hopefully your agreement has an interest clause (and a stop-work clause) in there, too. Those two clauses are the tools to encourage payment.

You can always choose NOT to charge someone interest if you believe their non-payment excuse. But there’s no need to discount your services just so someone can write a check faster.

By: Wandering

Wandering — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:20:05 +0000

Many credit managers will tell you that offering early payment discounts can cost you more than it will benefit. The main reason is that clients will often take the discount long after the time period has expired. You are then faced with the problem of squabbling with an otherwise excellent client over a very small amount of money. If you plan on doing this, you should consider increasing your rates by the anticipated discount, and then when they take an expired discount you simply ignore it.

Clients all know this, unless they are very new to the world, and even major corporations will play this game.

Good luck.

By: Victoria

Victoria — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:17:08 +0000

Great article! I agree, a contract and friendly reminders are usually all it takes. More often than not, a client’s late payment is the result of an innocent oversight and they just need a reminder.

In more extreme cases (thankfully, I’ve only had one or two of these in 8 years in business), I’ve taken the website down until the payment is made. Our contract states clearly that the project may be “removed from service” if the account becomes seriously delinquent. That sure gets people’s attention!

By: Life Clerks » Offer Small Discounts to Get Freelance Pay On Time [Freelancing]

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:02:34 +0000

[...] Got your own freelance kung-fu for making the checks arrive on time? Share it in the comments. Getting Delinquent Clients to Pay You on Time [Web Worker [...]

By: ben

ben — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:27:02 +0000

And then there’s the close cousin of this problem:

Clients who for one reason or another stall on asset deliveries and/or approvals, which has the same (or worse) effect on the bottom line as delinquent payment for deliveries already made.