Unpaid invoices can cause a serious problem for your business if they are not dealt with as quickly as possible.
While you will always have some clients who make sure that they are regular and on time with paying what they owe, some will try to leave it as long as possible – or even try to get away with not paying for your services at all.
In this situation, you have to be assertive and understand the resources that are available to you to help you collect what you are owed before your business ends up with cash flow problems.
Make it Easy to Pay
You can avoid unpaid invoice problems from the beginning by making it as easy as possible for your clients to pay what they owe. Consider using an online payment system where your clients can easily open a link that you send them via an email to make the payment, rather than them having to manually do it online or through their banking app.
The more straightforward you make the payment process, the less likely you are to deal with issues with clients not having the time to make the payment as soon as they receive the invoice or putting it off for later and then forgetting about it.
Send Reminders
The first step to dealing with an unpaid invoice problem is to send a reminder. Ideally, you should do this as soon as is necessary as it may simply be that the client has forgotten about the due date for the invoice, especially if they normally make payments on time.
A simple email to remind your client that their invoice is due to be paid today or at the latest, one day overdue, will ensure that you’re not allowing more time to build up before you take action, which can make it even harder to collect the funds.
Set a limit on how many reminders you are willing to send a client before you consider getting in touch with a business debt collection UK service to retrieve the money.
Offer Flexible Payment Options
Everybody has financial trouble from time to time, so it’s a good idea to consider if there is anything that you might be able to do to ease the burden on your client of making large invoice payments.
Whether they are an individual experiencing some unexpected financial difficulty or a business with cash flow problems of their own, sometimes there are genuine reasons behind why a payment hasn’t been made.
In this instance, you might want to consider offering a flexible payment plan, such as allowing your client to spread their payments in monthly or weekly installments to help make it easier for them to manage, while you will still eventually be paid what you are owed.
While life can happen and some unpaid invoices can be a genuine mistake, this can quickly become a serious problem for a small business if it happens regularly. By being proactive when it comes to chasing invoices, you can save yourself a lot of future trouble.