A slight Invoicing situation…

An email  received recently concerning a slight invoicing problem:

Hi Steve!

Can you help us out with invoicing?  We send out an invoice and it seems to take 30-90 days to get people to respond.  Right now we have over $1,000 in invoices out and every day I check an empty mailbox.  Please let us know if there is "trick" in getting people to pay their invoice upon receiving it.  Thanks!

Laura & Tony

My Response:

Hi Laura and Tony:

Good to hear from you.  First off…I'm kind of curious.  Are you doing a lot of commercial business?  Because if you're doing residential work, you shouldn't be invoicing any customers at all.

I never invoiced anyone in 5 years.  I guess that's another reason why I stayed away from commercial due to the invoicing and accounts receivable stuff that is required.

But as far as your residential customers, you should be bringing your invoice to the job.  At the end of the job, you present the invoice, and you get paid.  If the homeowner isn't home, then you leave the invoice on the kitchen table.  Call 'em later and let me know that you appreciate their business and that you left an invoice for them on the kitchen table.  You'd appreciate it if they can pop a check in the mail in the next few days.

Although I've had a maybe a dozen or so customers who weren't home when I did their work, those folks were left an invoice and I always received a check in the mail no later than a week after the job was completed.  If one of my crews did the window cleaning job, then I stopped by later at the end of the day to see if the customer was satisfied.  At that time, I then presented my invoice and got paid on the spot.

So to confirm, you should never, ever, ever invoice your residential customers.  No way.  The beauty of the window washing business is you should be getting paid at the end of each job.  If you have any questions on this, please give me a jingle.  Take care for now.

Regards,

Steve

P.S. As a side note, I would immediately get on the phone with those people who owe you money and gently prompt them to pay you.  Wait a week and try again.  And from here on out, bring your invoice with you to each job and expect to get paid at the end of each job.  You might have to "untrain" your customers because they might be expecting to send in a check.  But tell them you've changed your policy and payment is due upon completion of work.  If you called a plumber, you would pay him when he got done, right?  If you called an air conditioner repairman, you'd pay 'em when he fixed your air conditioner, right?  Window cleaning is no different.  Take care.