Why do we get unpaid invoices?
My client: “My dad started this [x] business a few years ago and it has grown from strength to strength but we keep finding that our invoices either aren’t being paid on time or they aren’t being paid at all.”
Me: “Sorry to hear this, we can certainly help you get paid quicker and recover your unpaid invoices for you. Tell me, do you have business terms and if so, do send them to your customers before you begin working for them?”
My client: “I think we do have business terms but I am pretty sure that we stop sending them to our customers because they are out of date now and they do not reflect our current day-to-day business operations”.
It’s perfectly understandable that the day-to-day operations of a business will evolve over time as the business grows. But, if your solicitor prepared your legal documents at the start of your business and your day-to-day business operations have since evolved, it could mean that your legal documents are out of date. If your legal documents are out of sync with your day-to-day business operations and you raise an invoice that your client questions, the process of you getting your invoice paid my be unnecessarily delayed because rather than you being able to say “Dear customer, please see clause x of our terms of business which says ……”, instead you might find yourself in a bit of a quandary having to prove your business processes which will be time-consuming and probably costly for you.
Instead, how about adding a quarterly or six monthly reminder to review your business operations in line with your legal documents.
We’ve put together a quick and easy scorecard to help you get paid quicker. It’s packed with helpful tips and tricks, just like the one mentioned in this post, that you can incorporate into your own business. You can try it for free by clicking here.
#business #cashflow #debtrecovery #disputeresolution
