Morning everyone! So we had a client last week, a crane hire company, who was owed $7200. The debt was made up of 4 invoices, all due in July and August 2015. When I first spoke with the customer they explained that they could not pay the whole amount in one go, so I suggested they pay just the oldest invoice first and then the next, and so forth. They claim that the client never even mentioned this was an option and had it been, they would have done so without it needing to come to me. I was shocked by this- guys the moral of this story is- it is tempting when owed money to just want the whole lot and lose your perspective- it is either one extreme or the other- full amount or nothing. Always remember my old adage- “Something is always better than nothing”. Offer to break the debt down into invoices, just to make things a little easier for the customer. The worse thing you want is an unmotivated customer who is feeling overwhelmed by the total they owe, when if you break it down into individual invoices, or even installments, doesn’t seem that bad. In this instance, the customer paid the oldest invoice that same day, the next oldest on Friday and phoned me yesterday saying that they felt like a massive weight had been lifted off their shoulders and they have now made paying the remaining two invoices their absolute priority- not because they are worried about me or legal action, but because they love the feeling of already being half way there, with the finish line in site. Cheers guys!
How to get paid, one invoice at a time