Small Business Invoices - How to Get Paid Fast

Are your clients a little (or a lot) slow when it comes to paying their invoices? 

While you can’t pull out their credit card for them, there’s some things you can do in your invoicing process to increase your chances of getting paid – and even increase the speed of the payment!

Here are 5 simple tips on how to do it:

(𝟭) 𝗠𝗔𝗞𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗜𝗡𝗩𝗢𝗜𝗖𝗘 𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗠𝗦 𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗬 𝗧𝗢 𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗡𝗗

You may know that putting “CIA” on your invoices means “cash in advance” … but your client may read that and think “… Central Intelligence Agency…??”

Make sure your terms – both for payment period AND late fees! – are (literally) spelled out on every invoice

(𝟮) 𝗦𝗛𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗘𝗡 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗣𝗔𝗬𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗢𝗗

Stats show that if you give more clients more time to pay – like 30 or 90 days – they’ll take it!  So, logically, if you ask for payment sooner, you’ll receive payment faster. 

You can do this by starting to ask your client for deposits or shortening the payment period to 14 days or even “due on receipt of invoice”.

(𝟯) 𝗕𝗘 𝗣𝗢𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗘

Research shows that adding a simple “please” or “thank you” to your invoice results in faster payments!

(𝟰) 𝗠𝗔𝗞𝗘 𝗣𝗔𝗬𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗬

You want to remove as much friction as possible when it comes to the payment process.  Emailing them an invoice to pay online is MUCH easier and faster than mailing an invoice and waiting for a check in the mail.

(𝟱) 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗖𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗥 𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝗙𝗘𝗘𝗦 + 𝗘𝗡𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗖𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗠

Just having a line about late fees on your invoice statistically increases your odds of getting paid on time!

And even if that doesn’t get payment by the due date, you can do other things to incentivize (late) payment, like scheduling automated reminders in your billing software, charging the late fee, or withholding the final product until final payment.

(Want more invoicing tips? We also included an article below