Don’t you love beyond reason doing a project, meeting a deadline, and never hearing back from the client? I finished a project four or five weeks ago – one of those “We really need to get this done ASAP” projects where I broke my neck to give them a great product on deadline. I did so – two days ahead of schedule. The client said “Thank you! We’ll get back to you once Legal goes over it.” That statement alone is why I’m not panicking. Legal departments often take forever to go over articles and white papers. Why shouldn’t they? There are bigger fish for them to fry than one five-page paper.
I was going to write to them two weeks ago, but given that I had a week off coming up, I thought better of it. The chances of one being asked to complete instant edits and fix what clients think are massive errors increases if one puts one’s neck out just before a vacation and reminds said client about the project. Today’s the day I’ll contact them. I have a few days of idle time ahead of me (so far). They can respond at will and I’ll be ready.
But at what point do you push the invoice question? I send my invoices along with the product in most cases. In this case, I did not. Knowing there’s a legal department to contend with made me pause, but I should’ve in retrospect. But my other method of billing works just as well – wait a few weeks for feedback and, assuming all is well, send a follow-up note with an invoice. That usually does two things – it gets them back on the project and wanting revisions while they still have me on the books, and it gets my payment in the accounting loop.
How do you handle your silent clients? When do you invoice? What works best for you?
I worked before in an export company and had a client who takes time to pay…what we did was to keep in touch with him until maybe he became satiated,hehe I guess that is not a good idea.On the other hand,we had a client who pays only when the supplies are finished so we leave it that way.Keeping in touch with them I think is what best to do…
Thank you for your comment about the diet pills.I wonder why it took me time to get the pregnancy fats go,I guess they will never go…huhu.
I guess I’ve been pretty lucky with my clients. Most pay promptly–and those that don’t pay on time always respond to a single friendly reminder sent out after 2 weeks.
Invoicing is one of those things that drive me nutty. After a couple of weeks, I’ll either just send the invoice, or drop them a note to see when I can send it.
When I was at the conference, one of the editors asked about payment issues, and I said it would be very helpful if the editor was upfront on how to handle invoicing situations. I have editors who don’t use them, editors who tell me to wait until they have a final word count, editors who say send the invoice with the article, etc.
Speaking of invoices . . . one of my editors just changed invoicing systems and it is a major PITA to send them along now. And I keep forgetting to send along the invoice because of it.
Oh Sue, I couldn’t agree more. I have jumped through so many invoicing-system hoops it’s ridiculous. I get tired of “We can’t pay unless you put a job number on the bill” or “We need your Social Security number” or “We need everything BUT your SS number”….
How hard is it to pay a freaking invoice? The amount doesn’t change. If there’s no job number on it, don’t send it back to me – put one on it! Jeez. I actually had one company that wouldn’t pay me unless I filled out THEIR invoice template. It was the same as mine, but it had pretty little columns. Give me a stinking break – if your accounting department isn’t able to process a simple piece of paper, your problem is not my invoice, you know?
I put a clause in my agreement that says if revisions are not assigned within 14 days, the project is assumed to be satisfactory and will be invoiced.
I am pretty fed up with invoicing, too. I turned in a completd project two weeks ago … and the client still hasn’t paid the deposit! I let it slide this time because they’re a longstanding client, but that’s ridiculous.
I am thinking of changing my invoicing system with clients like these who have become increasingly slow paying. I may offer them 10% off for payment in full up front.
That’s a great idea, Eileen!
I’m a stickler for the 50% deposit up front with all new clients. Then, when the work is completed, I send an invoice at the same time with the deposit noted as a credit, as well as a note saying that payment is due within 30 days of receipt. If there are revisions to be done, I have no problem waiting until they’re dealt with before receiving payment. Knock on wood, I’ve never had a problem getting paid.