Been chasing down a few corporate clients who’ve gone radio silent on invoices that are 60+ days overdue. The usual follow-up emails aren’t cutting it anymore.
Starting to wonder if there are some straightforward approaches that actually work with bigger companies. These aren’t small businesses where you can just call the owner directly.
I just show up at their office after 90 days.
After 60 days, just call them. Email clearly isn’t working - they’re ignoring you.
Here’s what works:
Corporate accounting moves like molasses, but get the right person on the phone and you’ll actually find out what’s happening with your invoice.
Corporate clients need purchase order numbers on every invoice. No PO number? That’s why your payment’s stuck. Call them, get the PO number, and resubmit your invoice with it.
Call Tuesday mornings. Mondays they’re swamped, Fridays they’ve mentally checked out.
Some companies will cut you a check same day if you show up with the right paperwork. Try that before bringing in lawyers.
Start calling after 45 days. Emails can be ignored.
Mention you need to update records for tax purposes. Corporate folks have deadlines when it comes to paperwork.
Try calling right after lunch around 1 PM. People are more likely to answer instead of sending you to voicemail.
We dealt with this exact situation last year. Three corporate clients sat on invoices for months.
Find whoever signed the original contract or work order. They’ve got pull with accounting and can push things through way faster than calling random numbers.
Ask for a specific payment date instead of just asking when they’ll pay. “Can you process this by Friday?” works better than “When will you pay this?”
One company’s system auto-rejects invoices after 90 days - you have to resubmit everything. Wish we’d known that sooner. Now we ask about their payment process upfront every time.
Skip the main number and call accounts payable directly. It’s usually faster.