Billing corporate clients can be a real struggle. It seems like 30-45 days late is becoming the norm, despite having NET 30 terms.
I’m looking for ways to make my payment requests more formal and noticeable. How do you all stay on top of overdue invoices without letting it consume your time?
After 35 days, send a second invoice marked FINAL NOTICE in bright red or bold text. Corporate accounting treats these differently than regular invoices. Get their AP contact info and send copies to both the project manager and accounting. This creates pressure from both sides. I add 1.5% monthly interest after 30 days right on the invoice. This gets their attention fast.
Put the payment deadline and late fee notice right at the top of your invoices. This makes it impossible to miss.
I track everything on a calendar and check it weekly. Once something’s overdue, I shoot them a quick email asking when they’ll pay. Usually hear back within a couple days.
If there’s no response, I call accounts payable directly. This is way faster than sending more emails.
I just send the same invoice again with OVERDUE written on it.
Learned this the hard way - corporate clients have their own payment cycles that don’t care about your NET 30 terms. Some pay weekly, others monthly, period.
Game changer: I ask about their payment schedule during project setup now. Do they cut checks on the 15th? Process payments monthly? I adjust my follow-ups based on their actual schedule, not mine.
For collections, I use a separate email like billing@mybusiness.com instead of my regular one. Feels more official and gets routed differently in their system.
Anything over $500 needs a purchase order number now. Forces them to get approval upfront and creates a paper trail that speeds up payment.
A quick follow-up call works wonders sometimes. Just keep it simple and straight to the point.
Set up a simple tracking system - I just use a basic spreadsheet with invoice date, due date, follow-up dates, and status.
Send your first reminder on day 31. Make the subject line specific: “Invoice #123 - Payment Due [Company Name]” instead of generic “Payment reminder.”
Keep the email short and attach the original invoice again. Sometimes it actually gets lost in their system.
Here’s what really helped me: ask about their preferred payment method upfront. Some companies only do ACH transfers or have specific vendor portals. Figure this out before sending your first invoice - it’ll save you headaches later.