It can help you create professional invoices within a minute, set up automatic payment reminders, and even accept payments online. It also lets you track your time and expenses, making your billing process smooth. Since every client will have a slightly different preference for how they want to be billed, it’s best to set up each first-time invoice for a client as a template. Our guide on how to make an invoice has all the details you should include.
Payment instructions
However, there may be instances where upfront payments are required, such as in clients with a non-payment habit. Toggl Track is an ideal tool for individuals and teams of all sizes to track the time spent on tasks and use the data to create accurate client invoices. Staying ahead of these client billing mistakes will help streamline and prevent issues in your invoicing process. Even though you want to build and maintain healthy relationships with your clients, that doesn’t mean you should be afraid of following up when they don’t pay. Unfortunately, there may be times when your clients are late making payments.
- If necessary, send the completed invoice to your finance department for approval and recordkeeping purposes.
- By the end, you’ll be able to maneuver your billing logistics to facilitate timely payments and build long-term client relationships.
- If you intend to do billable hours per project, a standard invoice can work.
- This helps you avoid forgetting an invoice, and helps your regular customers to know when to expect it to arrive.
The good news is that there are ways to streamline invoicing and record-keeping so that it sucks up less of your time and is much less of a headache. That’s why we’ve prepared this invoicing guide to how to bill your clients. Clockify is a time tracker and timesheet app that lets you track work hours across projects. Pricing services feels like a high-stakes gamble for every business owner. Learn about some easy-to-apply ways for monthly expense tracking, with methods. Even if you’ve never invoiced clients before, Clockify gives you the tools to bill your clients like a pro.
Why do you need an invoice?
It allows you to establish payment terms while giving the client a formal promise that you will carry out all the agreed-upon tasks. To take the pressure off, here’s what you can do to ensure the entire process of billing clients for the first time goes smoothly. Make sure to establish and communicate your policies on late payments, including any applicable fees. This ensures that both parties understand the consequences of delayed payments and secures your income in the long term. Jason Ding is a seasoned accountant with over 15 years of progressive experience in senior finance and accounting across multiple industries. Jason’s firm, Notion CPA, is an accounting firm with a business-first focus.
That means including your logo and changing the font and/or color choices to match your brand’s color scheme and look. With most invoice builders, you’ll only need to do this once, and then you can save it as a new invoice template. It’s easy to get the hang of online invoicing, because the tools help simplify the whole experience.
Ace the Test: Steps to Pricing Services for Company Heads
Everybody makes mistakes, but an error in your invoice can delay payment and gives a bad impression of your business. E-invoicing saves you with that same ability to prefill invoices and find client details. Whatever business you’re in, whether you’re running a small business or working solo or how to calculate subtotals in sql queries operating as a contractor for local or international clients, you can’t avoid invoicing. Invoicing and billing are fundamental business tasks — that’s how you get paid, which is always a good thing.
For instance, if you give clients 30 days to pay their invoice, it begins on the date you send it. So by waiting 10 days to send your invoice now pushes the possible pay date 40 days from the time the project was completed. Then there are those who struggle with the entire process and end up waiting forever for certain clients to pay. For instance, in the UK, small businesses spend an average of 71 days waiting for payment.
Follow up with late payments
Using the tips above to include that amount on the next invoice is a start. At some point, it may be wise to hold off on delivering more work until they have gotten caught up with their invoices. You also have to remember to send out invoices at the right time, double-check that payments have gone through, and monitor due dates, late fees, and any specific invoice terms. When you allow different forms of payment, you make it easier for clients to use the form of payment that works best for them and their cash flow.
