How to Handle Outstanding Invoices without Losing Clients

When you are issuing an invoice for your business, it becomes all-to-easy for your clients to forget about the money owed to you until it is too late. 

However, there are several things that you can do before taking legal action against your clients, which will allow you to chase down unpaid invoices without spending any more money than absolutely necessary.

But the question is, how do you get paid for an outstanding invoice?

What is an outstanding invoice?

An outstanding invoice refers to a sales invoice that was successfully sent to a client but has yet to be paid.

Other terms for outstanding invoices include "unpaid invoices" or "open invoices"

When you create an invoice, the payment terms will be the key indicator that informs the client to make a payment for the products or services purchased within the given time period - for instance, 30 calendar days.

If the buyer doesn't make a payment within the given timeframe, the invoice will be considered outstanding.

🔖Did you know: Outstanding invoices and overdue invoices are not the same? Overdue invoices are invoices that are unpaid and have past the due date listed in the payment terms.

How outstanding invoices can impact your business

It's always important to clearly communicate your payment terms to your clients ahead of time. This will not only help you plan your cash flow, but it may also help your client if they face issues paying you on time.

With your business not being able to receive an invoice payment, you may be at risk of falling behind on your financial status with particular vendors you are in business with. Consequently, this can reflect on your credit standing and approval when you conduct business in the future.

What's better than chasing unpaid invoices? Stopping them from happening in the first place.

A well-done invoice can help in making sure it gets paid. Once you know the invoice is in good shape, you can rest assured to chase fewer outstanding invoices.

How to handle outstanding invoices?

In business, it is not always certain that you will get your payment on time. There is no guarantee that clients will have to provide you with a payment based on your demand.

However, the good news is you can lower the chance of late payments with some actionable steps that will help you handle delayed payments.

Here are some approaches you can take to prevent and keep tabs on outstanding invoices.

Tip #1 - Request your payment in advance

The first thing you need to prioritize to prevent late payments is to request your clients to consider advance payments.

To do so, you will need to define your projects and understand the capacity in which your client is able to make a payment.

For instance, if the project between you and the client usually takes months, you can offer your client a partial payment when you send them an invoice by including this option on your payment terms.

Making a request for advance payment is a common business practice, and should not be neglected. Thus, getting your deposits in advance can be a great preventive measure for late payments.

Tip #2 - Offer flexible options for payments

Your clients may find it complex to make payments only through traditional methods like direct bank deposit.

However, it's important to think long-term by offering your clients a few different options to make a payment online.

You may not even have to send any outstanding invoices at all if you're able to offer them the safest payment options.

This way, your clients can schedule or make payments in a timely manner.

Tip #3 - Include fees for late payments

One way to prevent your clients from sending unpaid invoices is to set an interest rate on overdue accounts. 

Late payment fees are often charged by the business and are added to an outstanding invoice. You can set the amount you want to charge, or you can try to calculate late fees that go in accordance with your business.

This may seem like too much, but this is how business works and if your client does not want to pay these fees then they can simply pay you on time.

There are also companies that offer different credit services where you can enforce certain policies or late fees, but we haven't opted for this route because it costs more than the default payment plan.

💡Tip: Some businesses will charge 1% per month for outstanding invoices.

However, please use your own discretion and inform your clients in advance so they are aware of this before charging them to avoid any issues afterwards.

Tip #4 - Consider professional legal advice

Things can get complicated while chasing a payment from your client. If it gets to the point where it's out of your control, you may want to consider seeking legal advice.

There are several different courses of action that you can take when your clients do not pay, but we will touch on the two most common and the ones that seem to work.

Option 1: You can accept payment after they have been sued 

This is a very effective way of getting paid if you have clients who owe you a lot of money. Fortunately, we have never had to do this because most companies settle out of court. 

In addition, the cost of filing a small claims suit is not that expensive and rarely goes above $50 if all you are trying to get from your client is the payment owed.

Option 2: File a lawsuit    

This is not a course of action that we have taken, but it works very well if you are owed more than $5000. 

However, this could get expensive depending on the total amount you are trying to claim from your client if they don't pay. 

Also, there are other policies in place for small claims lawsuits so make sure you check with the court that you are filing with to see if there is a limit.

Tip #5 - Notify and send a friendly follow-up email

There are different ways in which you can remind your client of unpaid invoices.

The most common method used in a business is email.

How to write a polite payment follow-up email

When sending an email reminder, make sure to include the following details:

• Your email subject line with the invoice number.
• An attachment of the invoice you are referring to.
• A friendly reminder body message for your email that includes a due date.

The following approach may entirely depend on two factors: your client's accounts and their business size, and the period in which the payment hasn't been made. Be sure to use a polite and friendly tone in your email.

Here are some invoice payment reminder email examples you can use:

Email template: Clients with small accounts

Email template: Clients with moderate accounts

Email template: Large account clients

Mostly for clients that the payment is due for a very long period.

This small act of chasing down our payment can often lead to prompt payment without the need for legal action. In addition, we remind our clients that they have not paid me at least once a month if their invoice is still open.

Every client has their own preferred way of doing business, so while some clients may not expect an invoice on receipt of work others might be more susceptive to email reminders if they missed the original invoice. 

⚡Important: After legal action officially begins, you should no longer contact the non-payer directly. Leave it to the lawyers and the court.

Bottom Line

Ultimately, it is essential for businesses to properly manage outstanding invoices in order to maintain a healthy cash flow and financial stability.

While chasing outstanding invoices can be a tedious process, there are various strategies that can be effective when you need to get paid on time. Additionally, It's also important to consider making a professional and proper invoice to ensure that your client is aligned with your request.

To streamline the invoicing process, you can also create professional invoices with ease. Consider using an invoicing tool like Statrys Invoice Generator.

With its intuitive interface, the tool can help you create professional invoices quickly and easily, and best of all? - It's free!