Regardless of the industry that you work in, or the services and goods that your business provides, unpaid invoices can be a huge problem. Though one unpaid invoice is unlikely to have a huge impact, multiple unpaid invoices quickly adds up. This is why it’s so important to chase late payments, ensuring that your business receives the money that you are rightfully owed. There are a variety of ways that you can get your business’ money back, as we have detailed below.
How to Chase Unpaid Business Invoices in 2024
- Send Invoice Reminders – Sometimes, an unpaid invoice is simply the result of an oversight. If you are waiting for payment from a client who has forgotten about the invoice, sending a reminder could be all it takes to encourage them to make a payment. It’s a good idea to remind your client in the run up to the payment due date, such as seven days, three days and one day before.
- Highlight Overdue Invoices – Once an invoice becomes overdue, send an alert to the client and let them know. This should be done once the invoice is one day overdue, and then at regular intervals in the days and weeks following.
- Offer Multiple Ways to Pay – Unpaid invoices are often the result of a cash flow problem, or because your payment instructions are too complicated. To make things easier, offer your clients multiple ways to pay and consider payment plans for loyal clients.
- Send a Warning – Clients should pay you within 30 days of receiving an invoice, or within 30 days of receiving the services or goods. Once an invoice has been unpaid for 30 days, it’s a good idea to send them a warning of what your next steps will be. You might want to offer them a buffer by extending the payment terms, or you could send a reminder of your late payment policy.
- Send a Final Warning Letter – When the time comes to take action against an unpaid invoice, you should start by sending a final warning letter. This is when you should let your clients know about the next steps that will be taken. For example, if you are pausing activity on their accounts until they pay or if you are serving a statutory demand.
- Enlist a Debt Collection Agency – If your attempts to get your business’ money back are failing, it could be time to enlist a debt collection agency, such as Cobra Financial. With our range of debt collection techniques, we are able to chase debtors and ensure that your business’ invoices are paid as soon as possible.
To find out more about getting your business’ money back in 2024, and to ensure your invoices are paid, contact our team of debt collection experts.
