Strategies for Getting Paid Fast and Managing Your Cash Flow
Do you have problems getting some of your customers to pay on time? Does
your cash flow ever run thin because of this? Here are some surefire strategies
for managing your cash flow and getting your customers to pay you so fast that
sometimes they’ll pay you before you even do the job.
1. Make Paying as Easy as Possible
However your customers want to pay should work for you. So make sure you’re
set up to handle multiple forms of payment including debit, credit, ePayments,
and even good old-fashioned checks if that’s how some of your customers still
like to pay.
A lot of your customers probably like the convenience of ePayments, and you
should too because it’s basically money arriving at your bank account
instantly—no waiting around like when you wait for checks to clear.
ePayments come in many forms including:
accepting credit card payments in the field with your iPhone or iPad
allowing your customers to pay online
setting up automatic payments for recurring work
One of the best ways to make it easy for your customers to pay you is
vaulting their credit cards. This way, you only have to ask for their credit
card information once, and then you keep it on file in a high-security virtual
vault.
Vaulting also happens to be one of the best ways to ensure you get paid
fast. “Clients’ credit cards can be charged immediately after the work is
done,” explains Chris Bertels, an accountant, business systems consultant, and
Jobber Certified Advisor. “This is especially useful for service businesses
with subscription-based models. Good examples of this are housecleaning or lawn
maintenance businesses that perform work for a client on a weekly basis.”
Vaulting credit cards is also a handy way to initiate payment before or
even while you’re doing a job. This makes it ideal for:
collecting a down payment up front,
offering customers the option to prepay in full, and
setting up weekly or monthly retainers with your regular customers.
Accept Payments in the Field
If your customers are around while you’re doing the job, set yourself up to
accept payments in the field. Stores expect their customers to pay on the spot;
why shouldn’t you? Also, a lot of them will appreciate the convenience of being
able to pay you right then and there. And the more often you get paid fast, the
less time you’ll need to spend on chasing after payments.
2. Use Invoicing Best Practices that Motivate Customers to Pay on Time or
Even Early
So, you did the job but didn’t get paid up front… It’s not ideal, but no
worries. You can increase your chances of still being paid on time or even
ahead of the due date by using invoicing best practices that have a knack for
enticing customers to pay up.
Email Invoices With "Pay Now" Buttons
Nowadays, plenty of invoices are designed to be delivered by email, and
some of them include buttons or links that customers can click on to “Pay Now.”
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