5 invoicing tips to start your day in office.
Properly invoicing your customers to avoid late payments or missed payments is an essential task that determines your business’s financial stability. Setting up a professional invoicing system also helps you be on top of your accounting for payables and receivables. Choosing a Modern day accounting software that comes with built-in invoicing capabilities can solve your payment problems. On the other hand, there’s nothing more frustrating than delayed payments for a business, but with these five invoicing tips will put money in your bank account.
- Choose an invoicing application.
In this digital world, manual and physical invoicing is outdated. Your customers would like to pay electronically, so you should make it easy for them with an electronic invoice that includes a payment option embedded.
Switching to a digital invoicing system can also save you money, and more importantly, time. You can create a digital invoice in your system and send it across to your customers in minutes. Another advantage of choosing an electronic invoice system is that it offers unparalleled mobility. You can carry your invoicing software on your mobile phones and create, manage, and review invoices on the go. Also, modern-day accounting software are AI-powered, and you can automate your recurring payments and invoices easily.
- Get organized
After choosing your invoicing application, adding your customer’s information into the system for immediate invoicing is the next thing you should do. The customer information includes name, physical and mailing address, payment methods, etc. Storing all this information prior will help you manage your invoices better and also automate recurring payments. Input your standard billing items, product prices, special discount rates, and hourly rates if you are a service-based organization for faster invoicing.
- Establish payment terms and policies.
Determine your payment terms and policies in advance will keep your clients informed of when and how you expect payment. The terms you devise should be comfortable for your customers and also ensure a fast billing cycle. If your clients find payments easy, there’s a good chance you will receive your payments on time. Also, making payment policies with shorter terms is crucial. You can set a 7-day, 15-day, or even 30 day time period for payments. Split payments for longer projects are a must to have in your payment policies. Adding to it, always send an invoice once a project is complete rather than waiting for the month-end.
- Invoice Design
A well-crafted invoice layout is very crucial. Design your invoice with all the essential details like payment terms, the availed service, invoice number, contact information, and due date. Also, customizing your invoice with your brand logo and colors will add a professional look. Build a strong relationship with your customers by demonstrating professionalism with polite wordings on the invoice.
- Timely Follow-Ups
Businesses operate on tight schedules and some degree of uncertainty. So when you find your client has not paid an outstanding debt, it’s better to understand the delays and send gentle reminders, especially if they’ve always pay on time. There are chances the client has misplaced the invoice or never received one. Reminders should be to the point, and multiple reminders should be sent out to the client until the payment is made. Calling the client to remind payments can guarantee success and also enhance your business relationship.
