Running a business is hard enough without chasing money you have already earned. A business only returns what it should when the process around it runs cleanly, and getting paid is the part where that shows up first.
Most people already send reminders, and still find the money arrives later than it should. These six tips speed up payment while keeping the relationship intact — which matters, because the customer you chase badly today is the one you do not work with next year.
1. Send payment reminders
Use your billing software to send gentle reminders notifying clients of upcoming and passed due dates. Include a payment link so the message takes them straight to a payment page and the whole thing is settled in a couple of clicks — removing the gap between deciding to pay and actually doing it.
The important word is gentle, and the important thing is that it happens at all. Most overdue invoices were never chased, not chased unsuccessfully. See payment reminders.
2. Follow up directly
Do not hesitate to contact a client 10–15 days after invoicing to discuss the payment schedule. Framed as a check-in rather than a demand, it is completely normal and it surfaces problems early — a lost invoice, a missing PO number, an approver on holiday.
3. Send it to the right person
Especially in larger organisations, an invoice sent to your day-to-day contact instead of accounts payable sits in an inbox until someone forwards it.
Ask who invoices should go to, and whether they need a PO or reference. It takes one email and it routinely removes weeks. Multiple recipients help here — see mailing to multiple addresses.
4. Build a real relationship
Ask how clients are, and talk openly about how your payment process works. A supplier who is a person gets paid before a supplier who is an email address — not because it is fair, but because that is how priorities get set when someone is deciding what to pay this week.
5. Think about the little things
When and how you send the invoice is not a detail. Time it to arrive during working hours, when your contact is at their desk and dealing with things — an invoice sent at 7pm on a Friday competes with a weekend.
Then give them a moment to respond, and if nothing comes back, a short call to say the invoice has been raised and ask them to acknowledge it costs you nothing. Checking the delivery status tells you whether it landed at all — see viewer status icons.
6. Offer something for paying early
An incentive is often cheaper than the chase — a discount of 5 or 10% for paying within a set period, for example. Invoice Office supports a payment discount for exactly this.
Weigh it properly: a discount is a real cost, so it is worth it where the cash timing genuinely matters to you, not as a default.
The pattern
Five of the six are about clarity and timing rather than pressure. That is usually enough, because most late payment is friction rather than refusal.