Desperately need to be paid but don't want to chase clients

amother

Thu, Mar 10 2011, 1:27 am

..away (didn't fit in heading)

we are really under a crunch financially with a lot of debt to pay off
My husband (who works really hard) is relying on me to bring in the gap just to get us by. The problem is getting customers to pay on time.
One of my best customers is a chronic shlepper when it comes to payment.
I don't want to scare them off by being too difficult about payments but I really need to be paid.
currently I have close to 2000 owing to me from various customers and I need that money desperately.
some of them I only just invoiced so I can't complain but others I invoiced a week to 3 weeks ago.
Is it asking too much for me to expect to be paid sooner?

How do others demand payment without chasing clients away. I'm always afraid with my recurring customers that if I press too hard to be paid on time then I'll lose them and right now I can't afford to lose customers.

Please advise.

akc

Thu, Mar 10 2011, 5:26 am

It's a bit hard to advise because I'm not sure what kind of buisness you run but, if a client hasn't paid within 2-3 weeks a reminder call or letter could be worthwhile. I sometime don't pay things not because I don't have the money but just because I forget.

Ilovechoumous

Thu, Mar 10 2011, 6:24 am

what if you were to call the clients and say that you will be in their neighbourhood/vicinity and it would be an easier way for them to pay you so that they dont have to go out of their way?
this would mean that you would actually have to go to them.

why are they not paying you?

amother

Thu, Mar 10 2011, 6:58 am

(Anon because I don't want to give away details here)

When I have a client who owes me money - I'm a graphic designer - I email them with the invoice once a week until it's paid, and call after two weeks.

I don't want to be mean or anything or drive them away, but I need the money and my services are valuable. I did the job - often paying for things like printing out of my own pocket - and I need to be paid.

I figure, better come off as a little aggressive than not get paid for several months. If that turns them off so much they won't come back to me, then they are not the type of clients I want to be working with anyway.

Good luck!

shalhevet

Thu, Mar 10 2011, 7:26 am

You need these clients like a hole in the head - calculate how much time you spend chasing them up and decide if you really want to keep them.

Another thing - if I've had trouble with a client before about paying, the next time I will only work for them if they pay me in advance. If they won't agree, it no doubt means they were planning in having me chase them up this time too, so good riddance.

shabbatiscoming

Thu, Mar 10 2011, 9:00 am

shalhevet wrote:

That is the best advice. OP, this is the only way that you will for sure get your payments.
Good luck and be strong!!!!

e1234

Thu, Mar 10 2011, 10:22 am

Quote:

Another thing - if I've had trouble with a client before about paying, the next time I will only work for them if they pay me in advance. If they won't agree, it no doubt means they were planning in having me chase them up this time too, so good riddance.

but it often doesn't work

I often have this problem. I appreciate those that pay on time - but it seems to be one of the things I need to often deal with.

suzyq

Thu, Mar 10 2011, 10:26 am

I actually don't think 3 weeks even is so long for an invoice to go unpaid. Most companies give a 30-day window for payment. I think you could absolutely email or call a reminder, but I wouldn't really consider any of those payments late yet.

geshmak

Thu, Mar 10 2011, 10:42 am

There's always a chance that you will chase away customers by pursuing them for payments, but it's a chance that you might have to take. It depends on what type of business you run, if it's a small retail store, customers should pay COD, and if you extend credit, a week or 10 days should suffice. For a bigger business, a grocery store, contractors, plumbing & electrical companies the standard for credit is much longer, 30 days and upwards.
You have a right to your money, and some customers need reminders, some need nudging, some need you to come pick up the money (or you will never get the "check that was mailed".
Just remember (I think this was said by the Skvere Rebbe-maybe the previous one?) "you can lose a customer, but that doesn't mean you will lose parnossa".
Set your standards and follow them. If customers can't handle your payment schedule, chances are they wouldn't pay in the end anyway.
Good Luck.

CatLady

Thu, Mar 10 2011, 11:07 am

They're not "customers" till they've paid you IMNSHO. You did your part of the contract, and now they have to fulfill their part. If you feel uncomfortable about asking for money you've rightfully earned, can you contract the billing and collecting to someone who can take care of this aspect of business management? You are a professional, delivering professional quality services/goods, and in the case of these clients, I would not agree to do any more work for them until you have been paid in full, and perhaps received a retainer in advance for future services/goods. If this were eBay, you wouldn't ship the tchatchkeh until payment had cleared, so why should your business run any differently?

Tamiri

Thu, Mar 10 2011, 3:40 pm

If you are in Israel, Israelis are used to shotef plus 90 days, so three months is no big deal for them. In fact, some providers OFfER you to pay in installments, being accustomed to people not paying on time.
So, based on this, I would suggest that when you get a job from this customer, ask him before you begin how many payments he'd like, and to please make out the checks accordingly when you start work. One check for the day you start, one for a month later, the third for 2 months etc.
The thing is not to "offer" the customer to pay, but to nail him to a time frame of payment. If you have his checks in your hand, even if they are postdated, you are ahead of the game. Not "when can you pay" or "can you please pay", but rather "I'll be needing your payment at this time, would you like to make it in two four or six payments and please make out the checks accordingly" leaving him with less wiggle room,

amother

Thu, Mar 10 2011, 5:42 pm

thank you all for your replies.
forgive me for not addressing you all in my reply and anwering at random but...

for those of you that wrote it's standard for companies to give a 30 day period, I'm sorry but I'm no big company like electricity, water and gas. the only companies I know that do that are major ones or people that are making enough money that they can afford to do so.

I'm just a little person, the money I make each week is like getting a salary. If I don't get paid as close as I can possibly ask to be paid then I haven't gotten my salary and haven't made the gap for that week. 9
our salary is our bread and butter at the moment, It's not even our savings, (non existent)

I like what one of you quoted in the name of the Skverer Rebbe about losing clients not meaning you lose parnossa. Thank you, I needed to be reminded of that.
My being too nice to unpaying clients is being unkind to my husband and children and they come first.

to the person who asked why they aren't paying, if I was a goyshe company they wouldn't get away with dreying me around like this.
theres a guy I sometimes send work to and I once sent my husband with payment to him feeling guilty that I didn't pay him on time and I was shocked when my husband came home saying that he said if only all his clients paid like me.
In other words my "not on time" payment was the soonest he is always paid.

Toriadore

Thu, Mar 10 2011, 6:42 pm

BOTTOMLINE--people will pay faster if they HAVE to pay to get what they want.

I don't know what you do--and if there's something you can withhold or only deliver COD, then you must do it.

It also helps a lot to accept credit cards or paypal. If you use paypal, you can let them keep getting invoice reminders.

If you're a graphic designer, you can send them low resolution files. If something needs to be printed, a high resolution file is needed--but you only give that to them with payment. If you only take checks, that's hard because checks take time to travel in the mail and often people need things in a rush. BUT if you take credit card, there's no way they can say "I can't pay you in time."

Make sure you have a "quote/project sheet" to send them at the beginning of a project that has policy clear. You put the quote for the project, details of what you are doing for them, etc. It should say that quote is subject to change if the details of the project change.

You can also have them give you cc info in advance, just as "security." Can say that unless credit card is preferred method of payment, card will only be charged if check not received within X days of final invoicing.

Everyone these days has a certain amount of money and they need to decide WHO to pay.

Kayza

Thu, Mar 10 2011, 9:27 pm

amother wrote:

some of them I only just invoiced so I can't complain but others I invoiced a week to 3 weeks ago.
Is it asking too much for me to expect to be paid sooner?

Before 30 days you can't really push, unless you explicitly told them something less. But, if someone is a chronic late payer, you can start demanding COD. And, you don't need to worry about chasing someone like that away - clients like that wind up costing you money.

bubby

Thu, Mar 10 2011, 9:34 pm

OP, I really empathize. A client "reminded" me recently about something I was supposed to take care of. I "reminded" him about the $6,000 he owes.

Guess what? I got a check....$600. Yup, 10%. Now what?

If I don't do the work I'll never see the $ he owes. Yes, I know we shouldn't have worked after we saw this pattern, but the problem is the "we." Rolling Eyes

If you come up with a perfect answer, let me know. Sad