Customers are often reluctant to pay for goods or services for a wide variety of reasons. While there may be a genuine excuse for their unpaid invoices, many times people will do anything they can to avoid parting with their cash. Keep reading as we share some signs a client won’t pay and how to avoid these issues in the future. Our outstanding invoice page can help you to learn more about how we can assist with this issue to stop your company from experiencing more problems further down the line.
Questions About the Invoice
One of the first signs we notice when dealing with late payment of invoices is endless questions about the invoice. A client may leave an invoice unpaid and then start to query various aspects of the invoice, such as the total of the bill or what was included in the service. This is one of the first signs that you will have issues later, as they are clearly trying to find a way to reduce the cost. While they may have genuine concerns about the total payment owed, it’s still a way to detect an unpaid customer invoice. Make sure you are polite and patient with clients who are asking questions, while still reminding them of the due date of their invoice to avoid further issues.
Excuses for Non-Payment
Following on from the endless questioning about the invoice, you may find that you start to hear a whole stream of excuses about why someone hasn’t paid an invoice. You’ll find that these excuses may start off seeming quite genuine, but after a while, you have to take action to prevent unpaid customer invoices. Send reminders via mail or email to clients who have not paid, especially if they asked you for an extension to their payment deadline. While we all have issues from time to time when it comes to late payments, this is one of the signs a client will not pay invoice that you need to watch out for. There comes a time when you will have to be more firm with the client to avoid being taken advantage of and protect your business in the future.
Unable to Get in Touch With a Client
When a client disappears off the face of the earth when you are waiting for their payment, this can be a huge issue for your business. Not being able to get in touch with someone is concerning enough when you are working with them, but it’s not unusual for some companies to change their contact information as a way to get around payment. If you really struggle to get in touch with a company, you may need to work with the local authorities to find out what has happened to them. While this could certainly be a genuine mistake from a client, or they may be experiencing an emergency, make sure you aren’t too lenient if someone is just trying to escape payment.
Complaints About Your Product or Service
Finally, another huge problem we notice with non-payments is that clients suddenly return with a variety of complaints about your product or service. In fact, you may not hear anything from them for a few weeks after your service was delivered. However, as the payment deadline is getting closer, suddenly you may find that they are complaining about issues with your offering. This is a clear sign that they may be getting nervous about the nearing deadline, and that they want to find a way out of paying you.
All customer complaints need to be handled with compassion and empathy, but make sure you aren’t taken advantage of. Customers may try and keep the product you’ve sold them, but you need to ensure you get it back if they aren’t going to pay. Often times when you mention they need to return the product, they’ll suddenly back off and realise you are going to demand they pay. Customer service should always be polite but firm in these situations, so brief your team on the signs to look out for when it comes to non-payment for goods and services.
As you can see, there are many signs of customer non-payment to watch out for. No matter what type of business you own or operate, any of these issues could appear at any time. In most situations, this isn’t a problem with your offering at all, but it’s a simple case of someone not having the funds to pay. People will sadly do anything they can to try and get out of paying you, but you’ll find that with the right approach and support, these issues happen less and less. Contact our team today for more information about how we can help you to avoid customer non-payment in the future.