trying to get paid from 60 customers from 3 months ago

[rats5656]

my problem is that i have not billed from oct,nov dec, CUTTING AND LEAVES beacuse i have been lazy and busy. What i need help with how to get the money after i send the bills out to the coustomers beacuse they are 3 monthe behind and it is my fault which i understand. How can make THE COUSTOMERS they pay the from work done that long ago ? and they the work was not done with taking any them to court and stuff like that.

[pcs]

Try to write a letter and explain the problem. If you don't want to pay I don't know if I would want to force it on them. That's if you want to have these customers next year.

[thelawnguy]

Take a deep breath, slow down, and relax. First make out those bills. Next drop em in the mail. Then worry about it if it becomes an issue-which I assume it isnt, at this point.

[Barkleymut]

Man, I thought I was slack. Anyways haven't any of these folks called wondering why they haven't received a bill? I would if I was a customer. I would also explain why you are late because otherwise they will want to know and that means lots of phone calls. Just say something like your computer was broken and that you just got a new one for Christmas.

[little green guy]

I did the same thing I still have to get out my bills from Oct, Nov, Dec, and I hope they all pay, Maybey instead of sitting here on lawnsite I should get those bills out. I started last week but got interupted by 5 days of plowing.

[Runner]

They'll pay! You'll just have to give them some time, though. You have three factors now to consider. First, you put their bill off for up to three months now. Even if it was a 1 month's bill, or a bill for a one day job, the fact that it took this long to get it out can prolong the response time from them. Second, you let the bill build up to be a greater amount than what many people would have budgeted in their month. Because of this, it may take some extra time to get it all up. Don't be surprised if some ask if they can pay you in a couple of installments. This is only fair. BE READY to work with them with a smile on your face! Third, you're hitting them RIGHT AFTER the holidays when people are hurting the most for cash flow. How can I relate to this? Because I'm guilty of doing the SAME THING! I STILL have money out! I'm not too worried about it though, as I know I will get it with patience. It just wouldn't be fair to put them off and then demand payment in x amount of time - and it SURE isn't very good business wise. We should be ashamed of ourselves, and work on getting our stuff together and bill these people ON TIME! Bad business habits are an inflection on the business as a whole.

[tazman]

If these are good customers, I would take the time and individually call each one and explain the situation. I don't know if I would tell the truth that you slaked off, does not look to professional for you. Like in the other post, say a glitch in your computer, mail got lost, whatever. You need to let the customer that no matter whose mistake, even your own, that you want their business and appreciate their understanding. Unless you have great cash flow, I would get a software program or something to send out your billing on a more current schedule. Good luck.

[powerreel]

Runner summed it up, I hate stuffing and folding envelopes and sticking stamps, too. We must teach ourselves to bill regularly. If you have to take a Sat. and do it so be it. Like he said they'll pay, if they didn't like you you wouldn't be around their house. Good Luck in the New Year!

[double e]

THIS HAPPENED TO ME!
2 years ago my partner past away. His wife did all the billing- obvious we were a little late on billing.
3 months behind
we sent out the invoces with letters- apologize for being so late and explaining what happened. Being in a small town, most new and were fine with it. we didn't lose any customers.

You might want to put in your letter that since the balance has been accumulating, you can pay in insallments

[tranum]

ya' know....i'm not quite living paycheck to paycheck yet and i do get busy/lazy sometimes, but 3 months???!!! u gotta be kidding!!! my wife would have me sleeping in the cold if i hadn't billed in 3 months. i agree with the other guys, better be prepared to give customers 3 months b4 u get upset about not being paid. good luck......

[Chuck Sinclair]

I am sorry but that is completely irresponsible and NO way to run a business! Now you are going to hit the customers with a bill that is triple the normal amount plus leaf clean up after they spent all there cash and most likely credit on Xmas i hope you plan on waiting a while for you money.

[Eric ELM]

I was 5 days late on sending out the November bills last month due to a death in the family. My customers get their bills by the 2nd of the month each and every month and we had one call us on the 4th on the cell phone before we even got back and ask us if we forgot to send them a bill. I don't feel you should be talking about court until you at least send them the bill.

[Chip]

I thought I was the only one this happened to. I used to get 2 months behind everyfall. This year I decided to make the first monday of every month Office Day. I use this day for sending out my monthly billing, paying personal and business bills and any other administrative work. Sometimes 1 full day is not enough but this sure helps me stay on top of things. Once in a while I get a little behind but never like I have in the past. I don't know about you but I always sleep better when the billing is done and bills are paid.

[little green guy]

Sometimes billing is just such a pain to do on top of everything else. Next year I am doing to make it a piont to gett the bills out on time every month though. I'm almost starting to get a little low on money. The bills I have to send out arn't acually for 3 full months though so it shouldn't be to bad on my cusromers. I just have to bill for cleanups for November, and a few cuts in October. We only did a few cleanups in December so it's 3 months but not 3 full months.

I thinks the reason we all are so late on our bills is because instead of sitting at the computer printing out bills we are sitting at the computer on LAWNSITE.

[mowing king]

Get a billing service. Before we had office staff i used a billing service. I called in the info and they sent me a copy of the inv before they mailed them out. it took about 30 min per week. There are ads in trade mags for these. You should not be doing the billing yourself, you should be working on your clients.

Never do your own payroll get a service,like paychex.
Kinda like,don't mow your own lawn, get a service.

[awm]

You must be pretty well set for payments to be
three months behind and you are just now feeling
it.TM

[geogunn]

I find it hard to believe that there is any member on this forum that would post that they were "months behind" in billing a client and then ask what to do about it.

no name calling on my part, I just can't believe it.

GEO

[lawrence stone]

Yes GEO no "real" LCO could pull this off.

He must be a part timer how works for the man for 40 hours a week.

[Greenkeepers]

Someone has money to waste! Can you send some my way, if you don't want to do your monthly billing, send me the info and I will bill them for you. Good luck with this one, ha ha larry and Geo..

[powerreel]

What if someone did desktop publishing 20-30 hrs. a week and was a gardener another 20-30 hrs. a week? Would this make them a false "LCO?" maybe a broken routine is better for some, ya know the expanding new horizons and such? Just curious...

[Charles]

This is the one thing i really keep up with. I am thinking about getting paid 3/4 way through each job. If the people are not at home as soon as i get home or the very first thing i do in them morning before I load up is get the bill in the mail to the customer. Or as per agreement I leave the bill in the door. And I NEVER forget about that bill until it is paid. If it is a one time job and 2 weeks go by and no check in the mail. I send them a second bill or drop by wherever they are at. So even one month without billing is foreign to me. But what is done is done. So send them a itemised bill and that you have been very busy and sorry the bill is late. Dont tell them you forgot. Dont make a big deal out of it in the reason the bill is late.

[goose]

I would send a letter with each bill and just let them know that somehow their bill slipped through the cracks. I wouldn't let all 60 know that you are .....behind. The full timers know if you don't have good cash flow it is one of two things.1 price 2 billing.

[KirbysLawn]

I had a little difficulty figuring out this sentance: "How can make THE COUSTOMERS they pay the from work done that long ago ? and they the work was not done with taking any them to court and stuff like that.

You may pay the price for being lazy! Were talking $1000's if you have 180 + invoices that have not been paid.

I would suggest re-evaluating your billing system, find a better, quicker way to invoice or quit being "lazy". Are they under contract?

[Mowin4cash]

The way I look at it, if the customer hasn't been billed, they are not late or behind. Get a hold of your billing practices. I love to send bills, for when they go in the mail, I know that in a week or so, the mailbox should start having something other than bills and lawn magazines in it.

[BUSHMASTER]

Boy i thought i was the only one .....here is what i done ....i had only my contracted accounts to worry about
every one else was not enough money to do anything but send a receipt and collect my loot. the contracted accounts this is what i did ....
wrote a letter explaining why i missed senidng them out last months statment and offerd a $45 discount if both months were paid by the 10th.what happened i had all outstanding staments in question in the bank by the 10th of dec.2000....money talks.....but it won't ever happen again

[geogunn]

bushmaster--you must be a large operator to not even blink at fourty five bucks per each acount! dang!

I suppose that is one reason why I would comare my proffitability to any one in the buisness. I am very efficient in collecting for my services.

I have only been stiffed out of a total of one residential cutting and one leaf pickup in what will soon be five years.

and those weren't my fault!

GEO

[bob]

Mt friend does the same thing. Sends out 2 or 3 months invoices at a time. He doesn't have a computer and does them by hand. My son also does something simular. He'll do his homework, but forgets to hand it in!

[geogunn]

well folks...maybe I've been a little critical of you guys that don't invoice on a regular basis. I still don't understand it but ...WHAT THE HEY!

let me just say that if I were a customer of a LCO and he invoiced me every three or four months, I just hope he wouldn't mind if I waited three or four months before I paid the bill! HAAAAAAA!

GEO

[champion]

Just let your wife do it for you it works for me.

[BUSHMASTER]

I defence of my self ....this only happened once.. and will not happen again...second theses customers are long time accounts and even that all the discounts came at the same time on my side they probally looked at it like a free service ....everyone like something free.....plus how hard do you think it would be to take these cutomers from me .....not saying that it could not happen just that it would be very hard... as for my pocket ...i kept my eyes closed and it did not hurt.i am jut glad it i didn't have more that i did ......but hey it worked,....the month of december....and collected all that was owed....lessons learned the hard way always stick with you.....