Comments on: Dealing with the slow payers

By: bigduke

bigduke — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 04:52:43 +0000

What Andrew has to say may hold best for an individual or someone running their own business but when working in a firm there’s more to it. You know the client will pay up, sooner or later, even if he doesn’t you’re not the one suffering, you’ll still get your salary. In this case instead of talking about food for family and bills, you adopt a more diplomatic stand. You need to bend the client around factors such as your resources. Something you’d say to get the middle payment out “We might not have the resources to assign to your project if there is any further delay in corresspondence OR payment. Kindly get back to us at your earliest convenience.” Everytime I say this to the chap (said it only twice) he expedites things. Correct me if this is a hit-or-miss tatic!

Oh btw Andrew, that sales pitching in the middle of the project tactic really works, atleast it has on the past 2 projects. The clients were convinced that there was no one as sound as me about web dev and business on the web, and it incresed the project budget just like that. Thanks!

By: shadowbox

shadowbox — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 11:17:03 +0000

Not sure about the ‘I depend on prompt payments to feed my family…” bit.

I’ve been lucky to never been at the point where I’m resorting to threats or sympathy votes - well, it’s not luck, it’s down to a solid contract for all jobs with a clearly defined non-payment procedure and structured payments including meaty deposits and interim payments.

Payment is due imediately upon receipt of invoice, with reminder email after 7 days and phone call after 14 days. It’s never gone any further than that (unless the company I deal with operate a strict 30 day payment cycle and we agree that this is acceptable)

By: Drinky

Drinky — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 12:57:25 +0000

Did you have a cancellation clause in the contract, something stating that if the project was cancelled that you would be paid for “work done”?

By: flameboy

flameboy — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 09:40:25 +0000

I started a project just with a signed contract. As it was quite an urgent project, i didnt’ wait for the deposit. 3 weeks into it, it got cancelled!
Caution is my top priority now. Sucks that it has to be this way though.

By: mrsmiley

mrsmiley — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 22:03:28 +0000

I’ve always found the best way to get them moving, and this applies to anything, slow payment, not supplying the required items, etc, is that you ask them how you can help them. This way you continue to present a professional attitude in that you are always there to help them, not to suck the money out of them. It could just be the item slipped their minds (they do have their own worries and concerns after all), and asking them a simple question like “is there anything I can help you with to get this done on time” could be the trigger to get them to think about the item in more detail. Most of the time they will say no there isn’t anything you can help with, but at least its forced them to think and realise its their fault and not yours and they are the ones holding up the project/payment, etc

By: Dr Livingston

Dr Livingston — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 17:28:15 +0000

Well I just make the one phone call, and the heavies are sent around… :D

But on a more serious note, I would suggest that the payment quoted is broken down into variable stages and that is in the contract.

Also make sure that what happens on failure of those payments is in the contract as well. At the end of the day, you need a good lawyer to help fight your part - don’t be afraid to get them involved, and another thing - get them involved early on as well.

The longer you delay, the more it’s costing you, as your client is earning interest on your money - that’s not on, at all.

By: GG66

GG66 — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 14:16:00 +0000

Alas, all these tips are well considered and if follwed should avoid the worst case scenario. We always insist on 1/3rd up front, stage payments and final payment before any rights are handed over.

Unfortunately even if you follow all this advice, some clients never intend paying. If it’s a large enough sum it goes to court. My advice if it goes this far is to settle early (if it’s a decent offer) rather than take it all the way, it just takes so long causes so much stress and in the end you most likely get a judgement against them but it doesn’t mean you get paid.

There’a always room for creativity though, I was owed by a hotel for over 6 months for some web work so I booked in my girlfriend and her mother for a spa weekend, placed in on account. They paid my bill promptly when they wanted me to pay them :-) Felt Good

By: sallycarson

sallycarson — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 14:11:56 +0000

I had a professor in college that is an acclaimed professional Illustrator. He taught a class about the business end of freelance design work, and one repeated piece of advice that we heard was to hire a lawyer.

He told an story about a friend of his, also an Illustrator, that was hired by a well-known beer brewery here in the States. This company always failed to pay this Illustrator for his work, and he had to take them to court to finally get paid. The incredible part was that the company continued to hire this Illustrator, and continued to not pay, then they would once again go to court. It sort of became an unsaid, but understood aspect to the work engagement. It’s mind boggling.

I personally would not endure the hassle of agreeing to do work with the understanding that I would have to go to court to get paid, but this was a consistent message in my professor’s teachings — get a lawyer!

By: optimus_prime

optimus_prime — Sun, 06 Nov 2005 03:01:49 +0000

Here are a few strategies that may or may not work depending on what it is your selling and your business model:

1) Don’t give them the final product or deliverable until all money has been paid.

2) If you already know that they take a long time to pay due to beurocratic reasons, bill them 30 days in advance so that by the time you expect the money, it’s already gone through the system.

3) Try to get paid upfront wherever possible.

By: romme

romme — Sat, 05 Nov 2005 20:00:39 +0000

True, often long contracts are not a suitable solution. Either the project is rather small, so writing a contact for that specific project take almost as long as completing the project, or a project has to be completet so quickly that writing a project specific contract would cause the project to be delayed longer than accepted by the client. For those occations we use a simple standard contract which the client has to sign, or atleast accept via e-mail, before we start a project. The contract simply states that the client has requested our services, that they are aware of our hourly rate, and that they accept our terms of payment and any other terms of business. This way clients can’t come afterwards and say “oh, I didn’t know…”. Ofcourse this doesn’t guarentee that the client will pay on time.

Here’s a tip, that often work for us: Contact the client a day before the payment is due, and remind them, that the payment is due. It sounds simple, but often we experience that invoices are misplaced by clients, or maybe the person who recieved the invoice haven’t passed the invoice to the payables department. Being a little bit proactive often gives better results than waiting for the client to be late before contacting them.