I only used four magic letters of the alphabet "VCAT". :twisted:
Always worked for me, just threatened to go there, never actually paid the $27 lodgment fee myself...:D
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I only used four magic letters of the alphabet "VCAT". :twisted:
Always worked for me, just threatened to go there, never actually paid the $27 lodgment fee myself...:D
i could rant on about this topic as well ;)
but if i did i'd surely get booted for life with some of my tactics over the years:whistling:
only problem being is once you cross them lines they dont call you again.........
bloody great i say :D:D:D
Mate if they are 90% of your bread and butter there isn't much that you can do Discounts for early payment is the best option or intrest charged for late payment these can included in your final invoice
Mmmmmm did this for a living once upon a time :( collection ya gotta love it
A friend used to work for food producer, Mountain Maid. One of Australia's biggest two retailers who stocked their product took the discount for early payment but still didn't pay for 90 days.
Mountain Maid couldn't do anything about it - otherwise the grocer would have just dropped MM's products.
In your case, you are in a similar boat. They provide you with 90% of your business so you can't do too much to annoy them.
Hi Wildone,
What sort of work do you do?
I find at work, the bigger the company, the less likely they are to pay on time. If they make up 90% of your income, you don't want to p them off! Quite often, it's a case of red tape in the accounts department, has to go through various people, get approved, etc. We've found the best practice is to get to know someone who effective in the accounts department, & be nice to them. Phone them & explain that you're a small business & can't afford to run on credit & would appreciate it if they could pay on time etc. Most often when you are nice to people in these situations, they get to know you on a more personal level & will help you out. You get more bees with honey than vinegar!
Of course, as your business progresses & you get a bigger client base, it will be easier! Hang in there!
Having worked as the government guy who's job it was (amongst other things) to pay the bills, I can assure you that making it easy to pay is the biggest thing you can do Also use A4 paper (typed) like someone previously said. Far to easy to lose the small paper ones and too hard to read the hand written ones).
Different colour is also good as it stands out against the 30 gazillion other pieces of white paper on the desk.
One place we used only accepted cash or direct money transfer. This was for $1k+ bills. So they always got paid last. Not necessarily because I paid them last but because people who took credit cards over the phone got paid straight away (easy to do). Whereas people like them had to have a government money order sent to them which took about 30 days to process on our end before it was even posted to them!
Also a friendly reminder call to me didn't bother me. Generally it meant that the manager who ordered the gear hadn't given me the bill yet and I didn't know to chase them up. So if you don't call it will be a long wait since I didn't even know we owed you anything. This is when monthly statements sent to the admin section (not the person who ordered the gear) would help.
I've also worked in family business so I know how much it hurts to be on the other side.
Very good points Utemad - Making it easy to pay is one of the biggest things you can do, as you said credit card payments, & we find alot of people like to pay directly to the bank account, so we have the account details on our invoice. We also now find alot of people like to have the invoice emailed to them, as they often misplace the hard copy. We got so sick of chasing bills & people saying they'd lost the invoice, & could we email it to them, that we now email our invoices, as well as send them by mail.Quote:
Originally Posted by Utemad
the formality in 99% of the bigger companies is that some has to sign it of before the Accounts payable department can pay it so do the walk go visit the guy who signs it of then walk it to the Accounts Payable department for payment and thats about all you can do
I agree with much of what has been said above. Even though the thought of of sending in the heavies to get the money is a good one the reality is you will never see the client again - with some that is the better option anyway.
We have been running our own business for 16 months now and have just bought / hired on of those swip card thingo's, that has make a huge diference for us, also we have started doing a non refundable deposit (we do training, so if they dont turn up we have lost out and cant recoup the money)
Finally my partner is the sweet one who rings and gives the plesant reminders. This works most of the time, the tardy ones I ring I am always polite, just firm regarding payment. If we arent paid then we dont hand over the finished paperwork which means that they have wasted their time as well.
Cash flow has been our biggest headache as bills dont stop just because your accounts havent been paid. Good luck with it I am enjoying it much more than working for someone.
Blythe
I work for a the largest kitchen manufacturer in our area as a designer. We don't let anything out the door, generally, till we get 95% payment.
Our larger builders (5 or six kitchens a week) know that they don't get kitchens if they're not up to date.
You've gotta be hard when the situation calls for it.
It also helps to have someone else saying "well untill we get paid your job doesn't get finished"