People with small businesses?

[furrytoebean]

How do you get bigger businesses to pay their invoices?

I usually work with normal people and never have a problem with them paying on time. If I ever do corporate work I always end up having to chase them for it.
I have actually stopped doing most corporate gigs because it’s just too much hassle.

But I have one regular corporate client and I haven’t been paid in three months! I have checked my invoices and they all have payment due by dates and they signed a supplier contract saying monies would be paid 30 days from receiving the invoice.

I have chased and chased and they just keep fobbing me off saying it’ll be paid in the next invoice cycle but it never appears. They are a MASSIVE company what they owe me is peanuts to them.

At what point do I stop supplying them and/or threaten legal action?

It’s just really disheartening as it’s added stress for no reason.

Have you contacted both accounts payable and the named contact in the department that uses your services? Having worked for big organisations, IME half the time the problem is that the person in the department (or their manager) hasn't approved the invoice and pinged it off to AP.

Half the time the person or department who you are doing the work for has absolutely no idea that their giant accounts department is refusing to play ball and pay on time. They may very well be extremely cross. It pays to speak to them, because they can raise it with their manager who can talk to their (senior) opposite number in finance and get it paid.

Another thing is that usually contracts are all signed by you and whoever you are working for, and copies never make their way to accounts. So when the accounts department opens your account on their system, it defaults to their standard payment terms, which can often be up to 90 days from the end of the month following the invoice date.

Also, check that you are sending invoices and statements to the correct address and department. If necessary send copies to the accounts department if that isn't where you normally send them.

The best thing to do, especially with new clients is to make absolutely sure right from the outset that the accounts people open your account with the right payment terms.

It also helps to use a fair amount of red ink on reminder letters, including the word 'OVERDUE' showing in the window of the envelope if you send them by post.

Can you tell what I do for a living?

One of the bigger businesses that I deal with has a defined process for me to submit my invoices. My business had to be added to their corporate database and, so long as I send my invoices to the correct email address, I get paid.

30 day terms isn't quite as it sounds. Depending on when I submit an invoice, it can be longer. They have set monthly deadlines which determine when they schedule a payment. After this and my invoice goes to the next month instead.

Are you submitting your invoices in the way that they accept?

(PS the automated ad wasn't useful, was it!)

Hi everyone, thanks for your responses!

I have dealt with the company before and not had an issue.
When I first started doing business with them they explained their payment schedule and we both signed a new suppliers contract which stated I would be paid within 30 days from them receiving my invoice.
Accounts definitely have my invoices and I have spoken to the person I am doing business with directly and the accounts department numerous times.

When I speak to them they apologise and say they will process my invoice and I will receive my money at the beginning of the next week, but then nothing.
It’s so frustrating.

Have you looked at their finances on the Companies House website? Perhaps they have cashflow problems (or one of their big customers has), and they don't have any money to pay the small fry such as yourself.

Do you charge interest on the outstanding balance if it goes beyond 30 days? That might motivate them.

I don't think you can start charging interest on the outstanding balance without some prior notice or agreement that such charges could be applied?

You could refuse to supply them with anything more until all outstanding invoices have been paid.

It may be that they are having problems somewhere in the system so keep emailing them about it.

So I basically supply a staff benefit.
Lots of their staff use my business and I was thinking about freezing all their accounts and sending them an email explaining why.

Would that be really unprofessional?

Unfortunately more and more common these days. Companies - big or small - just avoid paying invoices for as long as they can get away with it. How hard you push it (withholding services, threatening court action, etc.) depends on how much they need your service and how much you are prepared to risk losing their business. I wish you luck.

We have this too - especially with one massive company - who are known for it! Dh uses his personal contact and embarrasses them into chasing on his behalf, they screw around with process to put you off and say they are very busy - eventually dh says he needs to be paid before doing anymore work - it's annoying and does cause problems with cash flow - we have employees to pay. They still have invoices outstanding from 2018 - I think the thing is they become bottom of our list of clients - we are busy, so we only choose to work with them if we are very slack now.

Exactly!
It really turns me off working with them in the future.

It’s why I’ve pretty much taken b2b out of my business plan and then they bitch that it’s difficult to get reliable people to do the service I offer!