Waiting to be paid for a service or product you’ve offered can be an incredibly frustrating experience. When dealing with an invoice that hasn’t been paid from a client, at some point you’ll have to engage in a conversation about the unpaid invoice. There are many ways to tackle this task, and by following the advice we share here today, you can ensure you stay calm throughout the process. Check our page here for more information about the services we offer and how we can support you with chasing unpaid invoices in the future.
Stay Calm and Collected
The number one piece of advice we have when dealing with an outstanding invoice is to stay calm and collected at all times. To talk about unpaid invoices, you need to ensure you don’t share your frustration with the client and start to lose your patience and temper. Our team can take over this task for you if needed, which many companies prefer to do. You need to make sure you listen and don’t overreact to anything they say, as if you get upset, this might get used against you. There’s always two sides to every story, so take the time to discuss the matter before jumping to conclusions.
Listen to the Client
When dealing with an unpaid invoice, you need to take the time to listen to the client and understand their concerns. There might just be a simple misunderstanding that resulted in the overdue invoice, which you could quickly fix without having to take further action. It’s so easy to want to stand up for yourself and vent your annoyance at the situation, but you may find that the client just didn’t receive an email or phone call. Make sure you show empathy for their situation if they do tell you that they are in a bad situation financially, while also laying out your terms of payment clearly for them to understand. By taking a deep breath before you speak, you can ensure that you don’t overreact and make the situation more dramatic than it needs to be.
Use Multiple Forms of Communication
As well as talking to a client over the phone, you need to back yourself up with an overdue invoice email and written statements. After sending the initial statement, you should have reminder emails in your email stationary that you can use for an invoice overdue situation. We recommend saving all communication so that you have this as a backup if the situation becomes more serious in the future. Even if you think it’s just a small amount of money, when this happens over and over again, you could end up in a difficult financial position yourself. These emails should all be professionally written and clearly remind the client of the terms of payment to avoid issues.
State Your Terms of Payment Clearly from the Initial Invoice
If you don’t make your terms of payment clear from the beginning, then you may find that you run into more trouble in the end with your invoice chasing procedures. One of the biggest mistakes that we see companies make is not putting clear terms and conditions in contracts and invoices. Without these, your clients don’t have any reason to pay by a specific time and may end up waiting months to pay you for the work you’ve completed. If you expect payment in 30 days, make this very clear when you set up your initial agreement so that you have this as backup if you have to take legal action in the future.
Outsource This Task to the Professionals
After trying to follow up on invoices by yourself, you may decide that this task is best left to the professionals. Our team is here to support you in receiving all of your payments on time, no matter what type of business you run or what industry you work in. We understand the impact that unpaid invoices can have on your finances, and we’ll be here to support you in ensuring you remain financially stable over the upcoming months. Instead of adding extra work and stress to your already busy professional life, we can hold these difficult conversations and know how to tackle these situations to give you the greatest chance of receiving the payment you deserve.
Are you struggling to receive payment from clients? If so, our team will be here to support you with unpaid invoices. By following the advice we shared above, you can work to try and claim back the payments you are owed and have productive conversations with your clients to try to resolve the situation. Should you find you need more support, get in touch with our team today who will be happy to answer your questions on the topic.