I’m not sure that you would find this in an accounting text book but my theory has always been that there’s as much in the when and how you invoice, as in what you invoice.
The When?…
But there does seem to be a Goldilocks Zone – not too soon and not too late after the mediation – soon is not a good look – too keen, almost greedy. Late and you look disorganised.
The How…?
Well, paper is out…email is in.
A secure .pdf file oughta do it.
And include plenty of options for how the money gets to you. Cheque, Internet, credit card…and tell them when they have to pay by – which will come right out of your engagement terms* you provided by email when you first got the job, right?
I especially encourage payment over the Internet via their bank’s bill payment facility. All they do is type in my account details that are on my bill and next thing I know I get an email alert from my bank telling me about the payment. See, no hands!
And if they don’t pay, you can send a statement (personally, I don’t bother – I just send a friendly standard email asking how payment is coming along – usually does the trick nicely). The trick is who to send it to.
Interested in learning more? Go here for this 31 page free e-book from CAD Partners called ‘How to control your business cash flow…and keep some for yourself’
*I will do a future post on the top 10 things to put in your engagement terms – would anyone would like to volunteer their own as a case study?
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