The submission of your invoice<\/strong><\/h4>\nIf this is your first invoice for an ongoing client, then you may wish to attach a cover letter, introducing yourself and the services you provided.<\/p>\n
That way, you start to build a relationship with the accounts receivable department.<\/p>\n
An invoice number<\/h3>\n
It seems logical, but not providing an invoice number can wreak havoc for getting paid on time.<\/p>\n
If there is no code to reconcile accounts on both ends of the transaction, things will get hairy at tax time.<\/p>\n
There are a few different ways to provide an invoice number.<\/p>\n
You can choose from:<\/p>\n
Sequentially<\/h4>\n
Numbers in order as your jobs continue. For example, 1,2,3,4,5.<\/p>\n
Chronologically<\/h4>\n
Date driven number sequences that are a combination of the job number and date. For example, 20161207-00001 (YYYYMMDD-JOB NO).<\/p>\n
Project number<\/h4>\n
A combination of the job number and unique projection identifier. For example, 00001-GreenFields (JOB NO-PROJECT NAME).<\/p>\n
The presentation of your invoice<\/h4>\n
Just because your invoice is a formal document doesn\u2019t mean it has to be ugly. Used correctly, an invoice can also form part of your marketing strategy.<\/p>\n
Design it in line with your branding and don\u2019t be afraid to include some creativity.<\/p>\n
Just make sure it\u2019s still legible and easy to interpret.<\/p>\n
Reap the benefits of the \u201crecency effect\u201d<\/h3>\n
Research shows that people tend to remember and take action on tasks that are fresh in their mind\u2014it\u2019s called the \u201crecency effect\u201d.<\/p>\n
As time passes, details are forgotten and the sense of urgency reduces.<\/p>\n
Remember that test you studied for in Year 9 biology?<\/p>\n
Probably not, but you probably (hopefully) did remember what you studied the night before.<\/p>\n
You more than likely forgot half of what you learned mere weeks later.<\/p>\n
Without practice or reminders, information gets packed-up and stored away to make room for new, fresh information.<\/p>\n
So what does this mean for sending invoices?<\/p>\n
Well, if you want to get paid on time, the best chance you have is to send your invoice to your client immediately, while you and the services you provided for them are still fresh in their mind.<\/p>\n
If this fails, sending reminders in a timely fashion will hopefully get your invoice back to the top of the pile, adorned with a \u201cPAID\u201d stamp.<\/p>\n
Tools you can use to generate invoices<\/h3>\n
Thankfully there are many automated tools to help manage your accounts, including cloud-based products that enable you to access your information anytime, anywhere.<\/p>\n
Using a cloud-based tool means that your whole financial world is connected.<\/p>\n
As long as you have an internet connection, you can access all your financial tools and share data with your accountant.<\/p>\n
You never need to worry about purchasing new software, because your cloud account will automatically be updated. In return, you pay a monthly subscription fee.<\/p>\n
These tools will help you send out estimates, quotes and invoices and also provide an automated dashboard to tell you exactly what is outstanding and from whom.<\/p>\n
They also directly integrate with many account keeping programs, making everything a breeze at tax time.<\/p>\n
If you are not quite ready to commit to a fully automated, paid service, then you can knock up a pretty decent invoice using other platforms, such as PayPal.<\/p>\n
You also have a basic overview of what funds have been received and what is outstanding.<\/p>\n
Chasing your money<\/h3>\n
It may feel like one of the horrible parts of running your business, but chasing what is yours is important. After all, it\u2019s only fair that you are compensated for your services rendered.<\/p>\n
The way you manage your overdue accounts will set the benchmark for all future interactions.<\/p>\n
If you come across as passive and unconvincing, then your customers will have no qualms letting a payment pass the due date.<\/p>\n
Similarly, if you make recovery attempts and threats, such as legal action, but never follow through, then your customers will assume you are bluffing and continue to take advantage of your timid nature.<\/p>\n
A final reminder email could look something like this:<\/p>\n
\nSubject: Invoice Number<\/em><\/p>\nDear (customers name)<\/em><\/p>\nI write again regarding the above, which remains outstanding in the amount of $(amount).<\/em><\/p>\nThis account is past our acceptable trading terms and we are therefore commencing immediate further action.<\/em><\/p>\nIf payment in full or at least 50% of the amount owing is not paid by [time] [day] [month] [year], the matter will be passed on to a debt recovery service.<\/em><\/p>\nOur bank details to make payment into are:<\/em><\/p>\nBANK:<\/em><\/p>\nACCOUNT NAME:<\/em><\/p>\nBSB:<\/em><\/p>\nACCOUNT NUMBER:<\/em><\/p>\nPlease make payment urgently before this deadline, to avoid any further debt collection action. I ask that you email me once payment has been made, so I can update your account. This is extremely important.<\/em><\/p>\nI appreciate your business and would like to continue to have a good working relationship with you.<\/em><\/p>\nRegards,<\/em><\/p>\nYour Name<\/em><\/p>\nYour Title<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nLuscheyne Mellon is co-founder of Veromo.com, an Australian startup that offers business setup and registration services.<\/em><\/p>\nThis article was originally published on SmartCompany. <\/em><\/p>\nFollow StartupSmart on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and iTunes.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sixty percent of invoices are paid late, a recent global study conducted by MarketInvoice found. Furthermore, of the 80 countries<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,28,20,17,23,13,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45968"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}