s a business (rather than a consumer). Second, you need to implement a program to follow up on your invoices, but, using the right way. If you do these two things, you will minimize the time and frustration of chasing slow payers and maximize the time you spend growing your business.

So, how do you check your business prospect’s credit?

Remember this important rule. The best way

Two things you can do to get paid on time by your customers

There is nothing more frustrating to a business owner than delivering quality products and services on time, only to have to deal with a customer that pays late. Slow and late paying clients can drain your resources and be a major source of frustration. Many slow paying customers seem to require multiple collection calls, reminders and cajoling in order to finally pay. At their worst, slow paying customers can create significant problems, especially if cash flow is tight.

When cash is tight, many owners tend to go into “collections” mode. They will try every conceivable way to get late paying customers to pony up. This is an understandable knee jerk reaction to a tough problem. Unfortunately, it seldom works. Late customers will keep paying late. And good paying customers will get upset by the collections tactics. This ends up being a lose-lose situation for all involved.

However, there is a better way to handle this situation, and it is a way that produces good results in relatively little time. All you need to do is to manage your clients and invoices as will be suggested in this article. Once you implement these techniques, you can stop worrying about your slow paying customers and start focusing on doing what you like most: running your company.

There are two things that you can do to ensure that you’ll get paid on time. First, you need to check out the credit rating of your commercial prospects, before doing business with them. This is very critical and easily done if the prospect is a business (rather than a consumer). Second, you need to implement a program to follow up on your invoices, but, using the right way. If you do these two things, you will minimize the time and frustration of chasing slow payers and maximize the time you spend growing your business.

So, how do you check your business prospect’s credit?

Remember this important rule. The best way t

nders and cajoling in order to finally pay. At their worst, slow paying customers can create significant problems, especially if cash flow is tight.

When cash is tight, many owners tend to go into “collections” mode. They will try every conceivable way to get late paying customers to pony up. This is an understandable knee jerk reaction to a tough problem. Unfortunately, it seldom works. Late customers will keep paying late. And good paying customers will get upset by the collections tactics. This ends up being a lose-lose situation for all involved.

However, there is a better way to handle this situation, and it is a way that produces good results in relatively little time. All you need to do is to manage your clients and invoices as will be suggested in this article. Once you implement these techniques, you can stop worrying about your slow paying customers and start focusing on doing what you like most: running your company.

There are two things that you can do to ensure that you’ll get paid on time. First, you need to check out the credit rating of your commercial prospects, before doing business with them. This is very critical and easily done if the prospect is a business (rather than a consumer). Second, you need to implement a program to follow up on your invoices, but, using the right way. If you do these two things, you will minimize the time and frustration of chasing slow payers and maximize the time you spend growing your business.

So, how do you check your business prospect’s credit?

Remember this important rule. The best way

e customers will keep paying late. And good paying customers will get upset by the collections tactics. This ends up being a lose-lose situation for all involved.

However, there is a better way to handle this situation, and it is a way that produces good results in relatively little time. All you need to do is to manage your clients and invoices as will be suggested in this article. Once you implement these techniques, you can stop worrying about your slow paying customers and start focusing on doing what you like most: running your company.

There are two things that you can do to ensure that you’ll get paid on time. First, you need to check out the credit rating of your commercial prospects, before doing business with them. This is very critical and easily done if the prospect is a business (rather than a consumer). Second, you need to implement a program to follow up on your invoices, but, using the right way. If you do these two things, you will minimize the time and frustration of chasing slow payers and maximize the time you spend growing your business.

So, how do you check your business prospect’s credit?

Remember this important rule. The best way

implement these techniques, you can stop worrying about your slow paying customers and start focusing on doing what you like most: running your company.

There are two things that you can do to ensure that you’ll get paid on time. First, you need to check out the credit rating of your commercial prospects, before doing business with them. This is very critical and easily done if the prospect is a business (rather than a consumer). Second, you need to implement a program to follow up on your invoices, but, using the right way. If you do these two things, you will minimize the time and frustration of chasing slow payers and maximize the time you spend growing your business.

So, how do you check your business prospect’s credit?

Remember this important rule. The best way

s a business (rather than a consumer). Second, you need to implement a program to follow up on your invoices, but, using the right way. If you do these two things, you will minimize the time and frustration of chasing slow payers and maximize the time you spend growing your business.

So, how do you check your business prospect’s credit?

Remember this important rule. The best way to avoid having a client that pays late (or worse, one that never pays) is to not take them as a client in the first place. It really is that simple! You can accomplish this by screening their business credit rating before doing business with them. The most common way to do this is to get a commercial credit report from one of the major credit bureaus (Experian, Dun & Bradstreet, etc.). Most business reports show detailed client information including payment trends and a business credit score. The payment trends are important because they show how quickly the prospective client is paying his other vendors – a good indicator of how quickly he will pay you. Commercial credit reports are valuable tools that should be used to screen all potential business clients. You will find that the small investment in time and dollars will save you lots of hassles and potential losses.

The smart way to manage your invoices

Managing your invoices correctly is critical if you want to get paid on time. This is necessary, even if your customers are “good”. Fortunately, it doesn’t need to be complicated or time consuming. You just have to do it consistently. The first thing you need to do is to keep track of your invoice aging. Most accounting packages such as QuickBooks™ can create an invoice aging report. The report shows the length of time that an invoice has been open (and unpaid) and is a critical business management tool. You should check this report every week and plan your collection activities around it.

Also, you should plan to follow up with clients on their lat