5 ways to get paid quicker!

September 6, 2013

David Hadley

We often hear businesses making comments about slow paying customers. No matter how well you serve them or how good your business performs, some simply take their time paying you. Here are 5 ways to assist in getting paid quicker:

1. Invoice the customer as soon as the service or product is supplied and ask for payment straight away.
2. Make sure that there are no errors on the invoice. Don’t give the customer a reason not to pay. If a bad payer sees a reason not to pay, they won’t, and they won’t tell you why until you ask them. This can drag the payment out.
3. Always make it easy for the client to pay. Whatever way the customer wants to pay, whether it be cash – fantastic, cheques – great, credit cards and EFT – even better (they don’t bounce!). Payment today, even with fees, is better than waiting 30 days or longer for payment.
4. Don’t have poor collection procedures. If the customer knows that you are top of the collection process they are more likely to pay you rather than someone that won’t harass them.
5. Not all sales are good sales. Someone once said it is not a sale until you have received the money in your bank. If a customer is going to haggle over a few dollars, they most likely are going to haggle over when to pay the bill.

While it is difficult to eliminate non or slow paying customers, you can certainly improve the results with a good system, flexible payment options and consistent follow-up.

If you want to know more about a controlling your receivables, talk to us at Green Taylor Partners.

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