Get client invoicing right

When to run this

Run this play whenever a client complains about slow payment but has never examined its own invoices. A meaningful slice of late payment has nothing to do with a customer's unwillingness to pay — it comes from invoices sent late, addressed to the wrong person, missing a purchase-order number, or so unclear that they sit in a pile waiting for someone to work out what they are. Fixing the invoice is the cheapest cashflow improvement available, and it is entirely within the client's control.

It is a natural companion to tightening payment terms: clear terms achieve little if the invoice that carries them is confusing or arrives a fortnight after the work was done.

The play (steps)

Walk the client through what a fast-paying invoice looks like and how quickly it goes out:

1. Invoice immediately. Close the gap between completing the work and sending the invoice — the clock to payment only starts once the invoice lands.
2. Address it correctly. Send it to the right person and include any purchase-order or reference number the customer requires to process it.
3. State the essentials clearly. Show the amount due, the specific due date, and exactly how to pay, with no ambiguity.
4. Describe the work plainly. Make line items match what the customer agreed to, so nothing prompts a query.
5. Make payment frictionless. Provide clear payment details and, where possible, easy electronic options so paying is effortless.
6. Confirm receipt for large invoices. For significant amounts, check the invoice was received and is in the customer's system.

What good looks like

A well-run invoicing process produces invoices that go out the moment the work is done, reach the right person, carry every reference the customer needs, and state plainly what is owed and how to pay it. Customers have no honest reason to delay and no technicality to hide behind. Queries fall, because the invoice answers questions before they are asked. The business is paid faster simply by removing the friction it was unknowingly creating.

A client looking to professionalise this can use a tool such as the invoicing tool to keep invoices clean, prompt and consistent.

What to say to the client

Reframe invoicing as a cashflow lever, not admin: “Half the reason invoices get paid late is that they're slow to go out or annoying to process. You can't control how fast a customer chooses to pay, but you can remove every excuse not to. A clear invoice sent the same day is the easiest money you'll ever speed up.”

Encourage the client to look at its last few invoices through a customer's eyes: could someone who has never seen the job tell, in ten seconds, what to pay and how?

Common mistakes

The first mistake is delay — letting invoices pile up to be sent weekly or monthly, which simply postpones every payment. The second is missing the customer's required references, which can send an invoice to the back of an approvals queue indefinitely. The third is vague descriptions that invite a query and stall the whole amount. Prompt, correct, clear: get those three right and a large share of friction disappears.