billing due date

[Schlepie]

when you guys send out your statements, do you have a spot that says payment due by the 15th, for example? If not paid by this date , their service is put on hold until payment received. I have some commercial accounts that are habitually late, good money but always late. I was hoping this could curb this problem and encourage others to pay before the last day of the month. What do ya think?

Schlep

[Lux Lawn]

We use Quick Book and it has a place for PAYMENT TERMS and you can enter your due date there.We do not tell them that there service will be put on hold.Try charging a late fee.

[Cutters Lawn Care]

I have the due date on the invoice. I mail out bills at the end of the month and payment is due by the 14th of the following. Commercials are gonna take longer to pay. On average my commercial accounts take 4 weeks to pay and some are in the 6 week range. Most of my commercials are restaurants. When I send a bill in the manager in turn sends it to their corporate office and a few weeks later the check will be cut. I wouldn't expect a fast turn around for commercial accounts.

[MudslinginFX4]

I give them 15 days from the date on the invoice. I'm not too concerned about commercials, they are gonna pay when they want to and take their sweet time doing it. For commercials, I atleast feel comfortable that they are going to pay. I usually only threaten to apply a late fee to residential customers but I don't have to worry about it too much, for the most part the ones who are gonna pay do pay on time. Others aren't going to pay and thats when I decide what steps to take next.

[dfor]

Mine says "upon receipt" in the terms area. Most pay by the end of the month. I pretty much know when I can expect each customers check. After 30 days I send them a bill every 2 weeks to let them know "I want my money".

[JimLewis]

Like Lux, I too use Quickbooks which automatically allows you to insert a due date on the invoice. We use the last day of the month for customers whom we still send invoices to.

But you'll find that this probably won't help your situation much. It's typical for the commercial industry to always pay late. If you want to do commercial work, I suggest you just get used to getting paid late from them. Because if you start getting insistent on them paying every month on time, they will just go find someone else who isn't so insistent. They all have a method for doing things the way they do. And while I don't agree with it, they don't seem to want to change.

One reason I stay out of the commercial side of this industry.

[aquamtic]

You might want to offer your customers an incentive for immediate payment. Offer a 2% discount on payments made within 7 days.
If yu say they are good money, then sometimes you need to bite the bullet and wait a little. You don't want to throw and issues out that can cost you a good money customer.
Take the good with the bad!

[Team Gopher]

Hi Schlepie,

Did you consider possibly charging a late fee / %? That may get your clients to pay faster.

[jajwrigh]

I suspend services if I'm not paid! Last year I got shafted for 12 weeks from a neighbor and I finally got paid, but I don't ever want to be in that situation again!

[gator-town]

what do you guys think is better ... send your invoices out on the first of each month and make payment due "upon receipt of the bill" or make payment due by the 14th (two weeks) or 15th (mid-month) ... it would seem by giving a definitive due date there would be no misunderstandings .

[prizeprop]

I STATE DIRECTLY ON ALL PRE-SEASON AGREEMENTS--------

ALL PAYMENTS FOR WORK PERFORMED ARE DUE UPON RECIEPT OF INVOICE. ANY PAYMENT RECIEVED TWENTY(20) DAYS PAST INVOICE DATE WILL BE CHARGED A 5% SERVICE/LATE FEE OF PAST DUE AMOUNT.

I have been doing this the last two yars and it has worked great. Most customers are rarely ever late now and if they are they always pay the late fee.