When you’re a freelancer or starting a small business, one of the situations you’ll often face is having to collect from a client who’s late paying you for a project or has outstanding invoices and doesn’t seem to want to pay you. If something like this happens, anyone’s natural reaction is one of anxiety and insecurity. Especially if communication is fluid during the work process or ordering process, but when it comes to billing, it becomes less so.
Before you lose your temper and send an angry text or call them in a huff, you’ll probably want some tips on how to deal with late-paying clients. You should know that there are diplomatic ways to deal with clients who owe you money, without having to end your relationship with them on a bad note.
Today we’ll discuss how to collect from a client who hasn’t paid you yet. We’ll also give you some tips to avoid this situation as much as possible.
First of all:
Don’t waste time. If you notice that a client is already a couple of days past the agreed payment date, get in touch as soon as possible. Don’t let the situation escalate. Otherwise, even if the client pays on their own a few days later, they’ll get used to the fact that your payments aren’t a priority and that if they’re a week or two weeks late, you don’t care. Avoid this situation and act as quickly as possible.
This doesn’t mean you should call to yell and complain rudely, as that would be counterproductive. It’s even possible that, instead of helping, it might end up making the situation worse. What you need to do is calm down. Then, figure out what’s going on and take appropriate action.
There are 3 possible reasons why the client has not yet paid you:
- Not happy with the service
- It has processes that make it continually fall behind.
- He doesn’t have money to pay you
- You have the money, but you want to use it for something else (extreme cases)
In any case, you shouldn’t waste time. If you’ve already sent a message or email politely reminding them of the payment date and haven’t received a response, act quickly. Here’s how to collect from a client who doesn’t want to pay:
1. Check if he is satisfied with your services
The first step in dealing with a client who hasn’t paid you is to clearly state the due dates on your invoices. When the deadline has passed, you should contact them to find out how satisfied they are with the service. If the customer has a complaint, make the necessary corrections to resolve the situation. Once resolved, request payment again.
If he’s satisfied, he might tell you that he knows there’s an outstanding invoice and that he’ll pay you as soon as possible. After all, it could have been a simple oversight.
If he doesn’t tell you anything about it, it’s time to move on to step two.
2. Ask if there has been any setback for which you have not been paid.
Sometimes, the customer may have had some last-minute difficulties making payment. If this is the case, you should understand that it’s not because of anything you did or because they’re dissatisfied.
Likewise, just because I can’t pay “right now” doesn’t mean I can’t pay you later.
The reasons for not being able to pay you may be purely technical. For example, they may sign checks only occasionally, or a signature is required for authorization and the person is away. It could be that they encountered some difficulty with the bank transfer system (glitches beyond their control), etc.
Or maybe you had liquidity problems at the time.
Handling this correctly is key:
Ask the customer if they’ve had any difficulty paying you and try to offer payment methods that make it easier. For example, if the customer tells you they weren’t able to send you the check or couldn’t get the money to you, consider offering online payment or a bank transfer. This could resolve the situation.
If it’s something related to company procedures, you may just need to follow up and wait a little longer.
On the other hand, if a client explains that cash flow is the reason they haven’t been able to pay you and that they need a grace period, don’t lose your cool. Tell them you understand their situation and are willing to give them a few days’ extension or work out a payment plan.
Obviously, having late-paying clients isn’t ideal for your business. But it’s better to be paid gradually than not at all.
Sometimes, the customer is doing everything possible to pay and really wants to. By offering them another solution, they’ll surely appreciate it and make an effort to pay off the outstanding debt.
3. Appeal to empathy
If the client is satisfied with the work and has no real difficulty paying, or if you’ve offered payment plans and they still haven’t followed through, it’s possible that they simply don’t want to pay you at that time because they want to spend the money elsewhere. It’s not very common, but these extreme cases do exist.
Yes, those kinds of people exist, and there are times when it’s hard to reason with them…
But you can usually win them over by explaining that you’re a freelancer or a small business and that you really need the money. It’s not that large companies deserve payments any less, but making someone understand this can be worthwhile if you’re trying to convince them to pay you.
Appealing to the empathy of a non-paying customer is an extreme measure, but sometimes it’s necessary.
4. Take action against bad paying customers
If your client has a recurring service with you and continues to refuse to pay on time, or if they’ve already failed in previous contracts, you can take steps to commit them to paying on time.
For example, you can spend less time on his projects until he catches up. You can continue working with him, but spend most of your time on more profitable projects. Make him see that the outstanding bills are piling up.
If it’s a new project with a client who has already let you down:
- Have him sign a notarized contract.
- Establish penalties for late payments. In this case, the person will feel legally obligated to pay you and will try to do so on time to avoid default.
- Another option, for smaller projects, is to request 100% payment in advance. This can work for networking, advertising campaigns, and other projects.
- If it’s a larger project, you can ask for a 25% or 50% advance payment. Then, you should provide clients with detailed due dates for both deliveries and payments.
Honest people have no problem with this, especially if they are customers who already know your products or services.
If a client already has an existing debt and there was no prior contract, offer a payment plan and have them sign bills of exchange. However, establish a penalty for late payments.
If you are a freelancer, an alternative to work safely is to do so through an online platform such as SoyFreelancer.com , which has an escrow system . To secure your payment, you can request that the client create a project and hire you, so that it’s managed through the platform.
5. If none of the above works…
Unfortunately, there are some occasions when no matter what you do, you’ll have to deal with unreasonable clients who refuse to pay, make payments, or sign any kind of binding document. These are the rare cases where the person blatantly disappears, making a bad impression on everyone.
Insist on communicating as much as possible. But depending on how much money they owe you, it’s probably not worth your time if it’s been too long. If you’ve been at it for almost a year and the client hasn’t responded and there’s no legal way to proceed, take it as a business lesson. The best thing you can do is warn your friends about that person. With luck, karma will take care of it…
Then, take appropriate measures, both with the terms of your offers and the deadlines for receiving your payments. Also, seek to increase your business with existing, trustworthy clients.
In Conclusion
Dealing with a customer who doesn’t want to pay is difficult, but follow these tips to handle the situation in the best possible way. Remember that most late-paying customers actually do want to pay. After all, in the end, honest people always count for more.
At SoyFreelancer.com, you can find clients who post their projects, offer your services, and work with them.
All work carried out within the platform is guaranteed by escrow.Clients pay 100% of the project upfront and have a work dashboard to assign tasks. You can present progress and record it with documents or screenshots.
Upon completion of the project, the client approves the work, and you receive 100% payment upon delivery. Register for free at SoyFreelancer.com to create your profile and apply.
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