How to Get Your Customers to Pay on Time

Freelancers are in a lucrative position. They can charge their time and worth for their services, and they can build a client list that works for them long term. To be able to have the freedom to work as you want to rather than under someone else’s rule can make all the difference to your income, your time, and the way you work your career. The problem? Getting paid. When you don’t have the security of a payroll team paying you regularly, you have the worry that you aren’t going to get paid on time and you’re going to struggle to find the time to chase those payments if you’re busy, too.

No one wants to work for free, and there’s nothing worse than spending time working on a job for a client and then they drag their heels on it. This is even worse when you stick to your deadlines and your end of the deal and they don’t. Non-payment is a common issue for freelancers and what must be found is that it’s the larger companies that drag their heels more than the smaller clients! Whether you get paid online or you use an NFC card reader to get paid, you need to know how to get your customers to pay on time so that you can stop waiting around. Below, we’ve put together some of the best tips for you to get your customers to pay on time every single time.

Perform a background check. If you can get to know your client properly, you’re going to be able to tell whether they are used to not paying for services or not. A background check can illuminate whether they have good or bad credit, and if their credit is bad, you can be certain whether you are going to be able to pay or not. You should always ask for a deposit from a client and get some of the payment upfront before you do anything so that you can be sure that you get at least some of the money.
Create a contract. You don’t have to try to come up with this one yourself. You can get the help of a legal team to get this done and you can create a contract that will be easy for your clients to understand. If all parties sign a contract, you can all understand your obligations and a contract protects everyone. It should spell out the consequences of nonpayment and what limits you are willing to go to wait for payment, too.
Bill your customers consistently. If you want to keep your payment in your client’s mind, then you need to bill them consistently. That means not allowing them to ‘forget’ that they owe you money! So, make a point of keeping to a schedule of chasing payments. Weekly calls and letters – you need to badger. It might sound bad but it’s not far that you do a range of work and then are left unpaid for it. Don’t allow customers to skip out on paying you because that isn’t going to help you to keep your roof over your head.
Get a good lawyer. If you’re dealing with consistent nonpayment from clients, then the best thing that you can do is have a good legal team on your side. A lawyer will not take any prisoners and often, the threat of legal action is enough to prompt a payment. It’s sad that it can have to come to that, but this motivation is going to get you paid so gently or not, it’ll help you in the long run. Make sure that you have the right lawyer on your side.
Send them to a collections agency. If the clients still refuse to pay you, then you have to think about a collections agency. A reputable debt collection agency will use their own methods to chase for a payment and while that may mean letting go of a % of the money you are owed you’ll still get paid in some way.

Non-payment is very common with freelancers, but that doesn’t make it right. You need your customers to pay on time because you have your own bills to pay. No one needs to have the stress of a customer who refuses to pay, and you need to feel like your customers are going to be loyal to you. You are providing a service, and you deserve to be paid properly for that service.