In the last blog entry, I parenthetically noted that I send electronic links to clients for credit card payments. It’s worth a separate post to discuss this tactic.
If you are like me, you hate anything not related to directly serving clients. And collecting payments is probably one of the biggest hassles.
So I’ve set up my online shopping cart (using www.1shoppingcart.com) to collect payments from clients. Once a client gives me the go ahead, I send them a link for payment. If we agree to 3 installments of $1500, I set up a special product for them so that they pay up front and are automatically billed every 30 days for 2 additional cycles.
The benefits are clear:
– No more sending out invoices and stressing over when you will receive payment.
– Immediate payment.
– Automatic payment.
– You can get paid as soon as a client gives you the go ahead, so you don’t have to worry about “buyer’s remorse” or something coming up.
– I even charge some clients the 2% or 2.5% credit card processing fee, and they don’t mind as this process saves them time, too.
This doesn’t work with all clients. Some large organizations like universities don’t give their faculty credit cards. And for large assignments, you might end up exceeding a credit card’s limit.
But this tactic sure has taken a lot of hassle out of 70% of my jobs.
Andrew Neitlich
