self employed invoices
Discussion
Any self employed people on here doing customer invoices?. I'm interested to know say if you had someone who is a good reliable customer who promptly pays would you give them a slight discount and maybe priority compared to those who play it out and don't pay for say 5 weeks despite no problems with the work etc ..if I know upfront they will do this then I will add on a bit for the inconvenience or just not return again .do find it particularly annoying when I give the cheaper price and knock a bit off trying to be as fair as possible thinking they will sort it asap only to find ive done it to cheap .we are mostly talking small ISH sums here mostly around few hundred or less .in certain scenarios I'm now going to ask for payment upfront
It depends on the industry really.
In my old line of work 30 days was standard and 75% of people paid at 45 days ish.
We had a few customers who wanted 60 days, they were big spenders with good liquidity so that was ok - but YMMV. We stopped 90 days in the early 2010s and lost a few customers but the profit margins were so small it wasn't worth begging. Again industry specific.
The main thing is, IME, if they miss a payment run you can end up into the following month. They try and put blame on you - i.e lack of POD or no signature on POD. You might not use PODs though. Anyway either excuse to get you a month down the road. That can be annoying.
Other angle is what do you pay your suppliers on? 30 days, on delivery, etc. Most of our suppliers were 30 days, but some were on delivery too. Cash flow could become clunky at times if big orders were coming in so in those situations we needed to go to the customer to say its strictly 30 days with remittance etc.
So the answer is - it varies I suppose.
In my old line of work 30 days was standard and 75% of people paid at 45 days ish.
We had a few customers who wanted 60 days, they were big spenders with good liquidity so that was ok - but YMMV. We stopped 90 days in the early 2010s and lost a few customers but the profit margins were so small it wasn't worth begging. Again industry specific.
The main thing is, IME, if they miss a payment run you can end up into the following month. They try and put blame on you - i.e lack of POD or no signature on POD. You might not use PODs though. Anyway either excuse to get you a month down the road. That can be annoying.
Other angle is what do you pay your suppliers on? 30 days, on delivery, etc. Most of our suppliers were 30 days, but some were on delivery too. Cash flow could become clunky at times if big orders were coming in so in those situations we needed to go to the customer to say its strictly 30 days with remittance etc.
So the answer is - it varies I suppose.
Depends on what service you are offering and how much local "competition " you have but discounting I would not.
Maybe more about looking after those customers who pay promptly first rather than taking on too many ?
Obviously a balance.
We employ probably at least once a fortnight a local very handy man to repair fencing and general round the house and land work -my wife has horses.
I don't ask him for quotes, just ring and get it sorted as soon as he can and in return I pay him within 24 hours each time.
Maybe more about looking after those customers who pay promptly first rather than taking on too many ?
Obviously a balance.
We employ probably at least once a fortnight a local very handy man to repair fencing and general round the house and land work -my wife has horses.
I don't ask him for quotes, just ring and get it sorted as soon as he can and in return I pay him within 24 hours each time.
Jack.77 said:
Any self employed people on here doing customer invoices?. I'm interested to know say if you had someone who is a good reliable customer who promptly pays would you give them a slight discount and maybe priority compared to those who play it out and don't pay for say 5 weeks despite no problems with the work etc ..if I know upfront they will do this then I will add on a bit for the inconvenience or just not return again .do find it particularly annoying when I give the cheaper price and knock a bit off trying to be as fair as possible thinking they will sort it asap only to find ive done it to cheap .we are mostly talking small ISH sums here mostly around few hundred or less .in certain scenarios I'm now going to ask for payment upfront
We do have a few suppliers that give discounts for early payment. However the discount they give us is less than the interest they are probably paying on their working capital financing, or what they are paying for invoice factoring.For a few hundred pounds I'm not sure it's really worth it. However i completely understand the annoyance and irritation from late payers.
Panamax said:
One good way forward is to offer a discount for customers who sign up to Direct Debit.
Massive overkill for a small company which doesn't have regular monthly receipts from customers. There's a huge amount of bureaucracy involved ins setting up and maintaining DD systems.Mr Pointy said:
No, don't discount - know your own worth. Charge a reasonable sum, expect payment on time & make sure there are late payment provisions in your T&Cs.
This.As a landlord I have a few trades I use regularly. I pay invoices the same day but I don't expect a discount. What I hope is that builds a decent relationship with them so they will go the extra mile when I need it (responding to an urgent job etc).
So far thats working well.
98elise said:
This.
As a landlord I have a few trades I use regularly. I pay invoices the same day but I don't expect a discount. What I hope is that builds a decent relationship with them so they will go the extra mile when I need it (responding to an urgent job etc).
So far thats working well.
Yes , that would probably be the case with me if someone is a no nonsense quick payer and easy to deal with they would likely get priority over less favoured work .I can also say something that just because someone is busy from a trade and does the talk etc doesn't always actually mean there much good . I know few people like this and can't work out why they always get so much work or why anyone would want them in there house.not particularly cheap either .not a scammer as such just not offering much more of a better job than people could do themselves,also talk for hours about nothing As a landlord I have a few trades I use regularly. I pay invoices the same day but I don't expect a discount. What I hope is that builds a decent relationship with them so they will go the extra mile when I need it (responding to an urgent job etc).
So far thats working well.
How do people also find customers who take forever to reply to emails and texts etc for no reason then will probably be asking why I haven't come in the last few weeks .I'm thinking of saying I won't be doing anything more if they can't respond to any of there phones etc...they certainly get downgraded in priority list
My MO in those situations was to say we were fully booked / out of stock and gave them the name and number of an alternative supplier.
99% of the time it gets rid of the problem to someone else! If you tell them you have a problem with them then it can result in bad google reviews / bad reputation etc so better to say you are fully booked etc.
99% of the time it gets rid of the problem to someone else! If you tell them you have a problem with them then it can result in bad google reviews / bad reputation etc so better to say you are fully booked etc.
Some people bump the invoice up by say 5% then offer a discount of 5% if paid on time. That way it seems more positive as it's an incentive to pay on time Vs a penalty for paying late.
I don't do it as most of my customers are regulars and pay on time or close to on time with a reminder!
TX.
I don't do it as most of my customers are regulars and pay on time or close to on time with a reminder!
TX.
Jack.77 said:
How do people also find customers who take forever to reply to emails and texts etc for no reason...
You can also use a phone for phone calls. 'Hello, it's Jack77 here, just wondering how you're getting on with...'Of course that may be countered by them not ever answering the phone when it rings. We have so many means of communication now but has it actually made communication any better, typing at each other...?
Simpo Two said:
You can also use a phone for phone calls. 'Hello, it's Jack77 here, just wondering how you're getting on with...'
Of course that may be countered by them not ever answering the phone when it rings. We have so many means of communication now but has it actually made communication any better, typing at each other...?
Yes that's true less bs if someone picks up can get to the point..its not always that simple for some reason , best bet sometimes just to assume there probably messing about with the future work so I'll send a physical printed invoice through the door then once paid that work is concluded for now Of course that may be countered by them not ever answering the phone when it rings. We have so many means of communication now but has it actually made communication any better, typing at each other...?
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