1- Invoice Right Away
This one's fairly straightforward: the faster you invoice, the faster you get paid. When you invoice your customer immediately, this makes your life a lot easier. Why? They still remember all the details of your service and they won't argue with you over the fee. If you wait until a couple of weeks later, things might be a bit different. Your customer might have forgotten about the extra work you did or how they promised you a larger fee for a faster turnaround. Being our client you would be using Xero.com which means you can invoice from your phone, Ipad, laptop right when you in front of the customer.
Ask for Deposits
Especially when you're working with new customers, consider getting an upfront deposit before getting to work on a project. That helps with your cash flow and also reduces the risk of miscommunication (discussing pricing and costs upfront will make sure both you and your client are on the same page.) Last but not least, deposits tend to scare away bad clients -- the kind who would only hurt your cash flow in the long run anyway.
Fire Bad Customers and Vendors
Have you heard of the 80/20 rule? Eighty percent of your revenue comes from 20 percent of your customers. So focus your efforts on your best customers and stop working with the unprofitable ones. Do the same with your vendors as well. Our CRM allows us to flag out our worst customers and we blacklist these guys and make sure we don't work with them again. We're talking about the ones who are impossible to get hold of, never pay on time and have a ton of unreasonable requests. Your life would be much easier without them in it and they don't contribute much to your revenue.
Offer different payment options and Financing
Some customers just won't be able to afford your payment upfront and without financing, you will never get their sale. So, offer them a few ways to pay or finance the purchase. Every business has to fork out some form of acquisition cost to get new customers. By offering to finance, you'll be able to reduce that acquisition cost significantly, as you're immediately capturing a larger customer base. You can also incentivize your clients to pay promptly by offering certain benefits (such as 5 per cent off if the bill is paid by X date.) Xero got lots of different payment integrations which makes it very easy and convenient for both you and your customer to transact. Contact us and we can show you all the options you have