anteater

I have had several clients lately who keep telling me they will pay, but just never seem to get around to actually doing it.

I am not rude with them, I just send friendly reminders that payment is overdue, but this doesn't seem to quicken their step.

How can I be more forceful, but not rude?

st@rsky

Cancel or Remove the service that you offer them..

Temporarily of course... (unless they don't pay up.)

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Anthony
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JustinG

Ask them nicely, that if they dont pay in 'X' amount of days, that you will not give them the template, or service.

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SophMedia

1) Get a contract with them that specifies something to the effect of "payment remitted within 15 days of invoice"
2) Cancel their services when they don't pay.

Simple as that .

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Robert Norton
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Percia

The idea about x amount of days we will cancel your services works best for me it all depends on the type of service you offer though. If it was a design you may have to take legal actions otherwise you were ripped.

Max

Exactly. If they don't pay, cancel their services. Like Rob said, make sure you have some sort of contract that states that if they don't pay within a certain amount of days, their services will be terminated.

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Super Mod

I agree completely with Rob. Follow those steps and you won't have any more slow paying clients!

Josie

I have one client who is great, except for the fact that he pays slowly just like you are experiencing.

If you are able to afford to do this (speaking cashflow-wise) what I've done with him is, if he hasn't paid me by the time he next asks me to work on a project, I tell him I can't do anymore work for him until I get paid for the last project. Since he's usually at crisis mode when he finally calls me in on a project, this always works and I finally get paid. I do send a couple of reminders after the original invoice, but they usually don't work. The only bad thing about it is that I sometimes get paid a couple of months later, but like I said, my cashflow is such that I can allow him to do this. I like the type of work he gives me and enjoy working with him, so I'm willing to put up with slow payment. I don't provide services like hosting, but if I did, I'd do the same kind of thing - warn him that you will be cutting off the service if you aren't paid for your last invoice by a specific date and then be ready to follow through (which you probably won't have to).

In your case, definitely don't do anything more for a client until they pay for the last thing you did for them that wound up in an invoice.

Super Mod

What happens when he no longer has any projects for you to do? Will you be stuck without a check for that last project? I might think about revising this plan of action you have taken with him to ensure that you are paid for your work. There's nothing worse than putting in time and effort without seeing the benefits ("$$") of it.

anteater

Good idea Josie. Once you tell them that you wont do any more work for them until payment is received, they usually choke up the cash pretty quickly!

If this doesnt work, then you can assume they probably aren't very dedicated to their website/whatever it is you are selling them, so perhaps they are better off not being one of your customers anyway.