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Poll: I do my invoicing at the end of every month. What about you?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 14:50
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
Savings in overheads Jun 4, 2020

Mario Freitas wrote:
if the client allows you to issue an invoice immediately after delivery, why would you wait an additional 25 days for a job you delivered on the 5th for example? I want to shorten the term as much as possible. Clients who require one invoice per month and pay you on 30 days are actually paying me in 30 TO 60 days, depending on the date I deliver the job.


My situation is very similar to Marjolein's. It would actually be a tremendous overhead to send some clients two or more invoices during the month, and then keep track of them all, with all their different payment due dates. It would be a corresponding headache for the smaller clients who don't have dedicated departments. And of course there are sometimes costs associated with each payment (for either or both parties).

Instead, I put aside one or more hours on the last working day of every month for this rather nice task. Many clients pay in the first week (7 minutes is my current record ) and sometimes they've all paid by mid-month. And for regular clients who have forgotten, the next invoice -- received on the last payment date -- serves as a very timely reminder. They'll often pay the two invoices together a day or two later. The downside of the odd client being allowed to take 60 days to pay is minimal and vastly outweighed by the savings.

Mario Freitas
 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 10:50
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
@ Sheila & Marjolein Jun 4, 2020

Inedeed, I did not consider the fact that I'm in a place with pretty high interest rates and inflation, and that's why I have that anticipating mentality. Different worlds in terms of finance
 
Sylvie LE BRAS
Sylvie LE BRAS  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 15:50
Member
English to French
+ ...
Thank you! Jun 5, 2020

Dear Colleagues,

Thank you for participating in this poll and your interesting replies.

As of today, invoicing on a monthly basis tend to be the trend (with 42.2%). I find it less time-consuming than invoicing after each project or every week, for example. Even with new clients.

Early last month, a new client claimed for his invoice and I just reply that he would receive it at the end of the month. He continued to feed me with jobs and he paid within 24 h... See more
Dear Colleagues,

Thank you for participating in this poll and your interesting replies.

As of today, invoicing on a monthly basis tend to be the trend (with 42.2%). I find it less time-consuming than invoicing after each project or every week, for example. Even with new clients.

Early last month, a new client claimed for his invoice and I just reply that he would receive it at the end of the month. He continued to feed me with jobs and he paid within 24 hours of receipt of my invoice. And I still work on projects for him this month. I think this process is good to establish trust between the parties, of course the client should be satisfied with the job delivered! Even if this collaboration will end in a few weeks, what the client will remind is: 1. The job delivered is satisfactory; 2. You're not pushing to get paid; 3. What is important at this moment is the project, not the invoice, so everybody can concentrate on what he has to do. He may recommend me in the future to his relations, and I can talk about his company to mine. Everybody wins.

I like invoicing this way, wether my clients are new or old, have one or several projects. I need to send reminders sometimes, but it goes smoothly in general.

What stands out for me from this poll is that people are mainly invoicing at the end of the month, but need to adjust their way of doing from time to time. There are always exceptions to the rule.

Take care! ▲ Collapse
 
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Poll: I do my invoicing at the end of every month. What about you?






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