Rich Geoffroy Polymer Services Group
POLYSERV@cox.net
What's the best way to invoice --- up front and in full, if you think you can get away with it. One guy I knew used to invoice the client 50% as soon as the project came in, but he was able to get away with it. Generally your client will want to be billed after everything is completed --- that may be great for him à but not for you.
YouÆll find some clients that will want you to bill them ôin-fullö toward the end of the year. Generally, these are situations where they donÆt want to ôloseö funds that have been budgeted to their department. It also helps them to get more funds allocated for the new budget, or at least justify the same amount for the coming year. Feel free to do whatever your client asks, just remember that this windfall is not profit --- youÆre going to have to deliver those services at some time.
I have always taken a middle road. Clients are billed routinely every month for the charges that are incurred during that period. It seems more than fair, inasmuch as IÆm on the hook for the first 30 days, then I give them 30 days to pay, before you know it itÆs another 15-30 days before you notice that they are late and you start to pursue payment from their Accounts Payable department. So, with a good client, you could be holding the bag for 75 to 90 days or longer on an invoice. In the meantime, other charges have been building.
If you can bill on a bi-weekly basis thatÆs great, but you may find that youÆre spending a lot of your time on invoicing and chasing down receivables rather then on client time --- itÆs a double-edged sword. The key to invoicing is to charge your client appropriately, get your payment promptly, and recognize problems early --- all this and donÆt spend a lot of time doing it. Your business is engineering --- not collections.
