How to create the perfect invoice online to get paid faster

Once you have your business running and clients coming to it, you need to keep your numbers green. This step in the economic cycle of your business can be a nightmare if you don’t have the right tools. And, it may sound obvious, but getting paid on time is a vital part of your business’s success. Don’t chase clients, upgrade your invoice system so that it helps you get paid faster and leave worries behind.

What’s an invoice?

An invoice is the material proof of a transaction between your company and a client. It is the evidence that is left after the transaction is made. And it will offer information to your future self about the exchanges that were made in a specific period.

1. Use the right tools for your invoice

Several online invoicing tools can help you have a paperless office. At the same time, most of the time, these tools have a categorization system that will save you a lot of time. Many platforms have a demo that you can try for a few days before actually choosing them as invoicing tools for your company. Browse the market and try your options. The perfect app will cover your needs and allow you to create, file, store and retrieve invoices in an easy and fast way.

2. Send the invoice to the right person

You have no idea how many times not being paid is just a communication problem. You may be sending the invoice to the wrong person. The one that is not in charge of bills and payments has received your email will not understand the priority of this. If the company uses custom emails for its employees, you may have to double check whom you are sending your emails to.

3. Timing is your friend

Great timing always helps, not only for invoicing. Establishing in your terms agreement how frequently you have to get paid for long projects is a crucial step. The worst thing you can do as a business is to sign a long-term contract and not knowing when you are going to get paid.

Set a reminder to send the right type of invoice. Whether it is a proposal invoice, an interim or maybe a due invoice, it should be sent on time. Companies usually have a specific date to pay their invoices and employees. Make sure you know when this is so that you don’t annoy with useless invoices or get the wrong timing and sent your bill too late.

4. Be crystal clear

An effective invoice is easy to read and understand. Invoices don’t have to be cryptic messages to be deciphered by an accountant only. They have to be a complete description of the transaction in a summarized way. Contact information and description of the product are two of the main areas to be filled. Price per unit and total price are also there on top of the list. Other specifications vary from one country and business type to another. Make sure you go through this and double check that all the necessary information is present.

5. Follow up

The most important final part of your invoicing and billing process. Calling your clients and customers to ask how things are going is as important as charging them. The invoice system that you are using has to give you the opportunity to register all follow-up information. Processes cannot be ended up until every invoice is properly paid. Some software allows you to take notes of the comments your clients say during a phone call. This is a helpful task to remind them when they promised to pay. It can also be used to ask if problems were solved and payment can be done on time.

These tips will help you avoid chasing clients who are late on payments. It will give you the opportunity to focus on more important job-related issues. The new marketing strategy needs more energy and time than expected. And, you cannot devote a whole team of employees to the task of making sure everybody pays. The system should allow the influx of invoices to flow smoothly from one step to the other.