The Tried and Tested Ways to Deal with Unpaid Invoices

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So, you have completed the order, shared the invoices with the clients, and still haven’t got paid. Well, this is something that almost every service provider faces. However, overdue or unpaid invoices can have a huge impact on the cash flow of your business and create endless troubles. This is why one must not neglect overdue or unpaid invoices. 

Every business should have a strategy to deal with this incident. The use of techniques like Online Billing Software for Enterprises, auto-reminders, and tracking the payments can help you a lot. But, that’s not enough. You need something extra. So, scroll down and know about some tried and tested ways to deal with unpaid invoices in the most impactful way. 

Tips for Dealing with Unpaid Invoices

Use recurring billing and invoice system

It’s not always that clients forget to pay. Sometimes, a business also forgets to remind the pending payments or notify the client if the billing process is manual. We won’t blame a business or a client on this front. 

Billing invoicing is actually very tedious and the human mind won’t be able to keep track of so many things. This is why one must use a recurring billing and invoice system. This tool automates the entire billing process and ensures you never miss out on anything. 

The best Android invoice app that you will get with the system will bring the billing system on your palm. You can create alerts and enter the payment details in the calendar. 

You can customize the notifications and send them to your clients when the payment dates approach or they miss the due date. Invoice tracking and management are easy with its help. There are advanced search filters and search fields that help you track a particular invoice easily. Automated reminders save time and effort. 

Alongside this, it digitizes the payment and helps you accept the payment via various payment modes. This process simplifies the payment processing and helps you, clients, to make a quick and secure payment. 

The integrated payment has a huge positive impact on timely payments. Many businesses have witnessed its power. They have admitted that the payment process has been regulated entirely once they shifted to in-built payment mode. When payment is simplified, your clients will have no qualms to process it.  

Create regular reports and do a detailed analysis 

Not knowing how many invoices are unpaid or due can cause a huge accounting mess. This is why one must always keep track of them. Don’t forget to create insightful reports of the pending month of each month and track them in real-time. 

The report is also useful from an invoice management point of view. You can chase a pending payment easily with the help of this report. You can find when the reminding task should be started and when it’s time to take an action. 

Invoice reporting and analysis helps you understand the revenue generated and processed within an organization. Based on the data, a company can manage the expenses and cash flow accordingly. 

Be polite and remind them regularly 

Don’t hesitate to remind your clients about a pending payment. Nothing is wrong with it. With regular and gentle reminders, your client will remain informed that a payment is pending.   

But, reminding should be professional. You must not sound desperate. We know how irksome is not receiving the payments against the work done. Despite this, one must not lose the calm. Whether you’re sending the email reminders or calling your clients, always have a polite tone. Try to explain your situation in a gentle manner. Rudeness won’t help you at all. 

If you’re an enterprise where there are thousands of invoices to track, using billing software is an intelligent move. This tool automates reminders. It allows you to generate custom reminders and share them via emails and texts. 

You can also generate reminder notifications on your best Android invoice app and help your client to remain aware of a pending payment. No matter how many are the invoices, it can handle all of them. Nothing will be missed out. 

Also, the timing of the reminders matters. Reminders should only be sent once the deadline ends. It should not be before that. Reminding about a payment way too early and again and again can irritate your clients. This will not be good for your customer-business relationship. 

Give discounts for timely payments 

We all love discounts no matter how small they are. To reduce the incidents of deployed or unpaid invoices, you can provide some discounts on early payments. It’s positive encouragement for the customers. 

Giving 1 or 2% discount on the total amount if the amount is paid within 10 days of invoice generation will help you have less unpaid or pending invoices. While deciding the discount percentage, you must consider your profit margin for sure. 

There is no point in giving a discount and receiving a payment which isn’t meeting your expenses. So, play smart at this front. Offer what you can afford. 

Charge for delayed payment 

Yes, you should do that. Not everyone is so punctual on making payments despite you providing them with offer discounts. Some may fear the penalty. So, you must act accordingly. Try to charge a certain penalty amount after a certain time limit. This will push the clients for quick and timely payments. 

Try to appoint a dedicated person for this job 

Though automated billing software will take up the charge of most of the work, human intervention is still needed. If you have a dedicated professional to handle this department then things will be managed properly in the first place. 

Wrapping up 

A pending invoice can hamper the cash flow of a business and can lead to downfall if overlooked for a long time. This is why keeping track of invoice generation, sharing, and processing is very important. 

The use of recurring billing and invoice software simplifies the job up to a great extent. It ensures that nothing is missed out and helps you remind your clients about pending payments with the least possible efforts.

When used in the right manner, it will never overburden you with unpaid invoices. Alongside this, giving offers on early payments and charging penalties is also important to keep the numbers of unpaid invoices as low as possible.