Late payments: chasing invoices without damaging the customer relationship

A late payment is an interest-free loan

When a customer pays three weeks late, you are lending them money for free. Meanwhile, you pay your suppliers, your salaries and your VAT on time.

An example to adapt with your own figures. Cutting ten days from the average payment time frees up more than €26,000.

It all starts before the invoice

Most late payments are set up before the invoice is even sent.

• Clear terms from the quote onwards: payment term, any deposit, reminder fees. What is accepted at the start is not up for debate later.
• A deposit for large orders or new customers.
• A credit limit per customer: above it, you talk before delivering again.
• An invoice that cannot be disputed: correct address, the customer’s order reference, a structured payment reference so the payment is matched automatically.

Chase in steps

Effective chasing is not improvised. It follows a schedule the whole team knows.

• A few days after the due date: a simple e-mail with the invoice attached. It is often an oversight.
• Two weeks later: a firmer reminder that restates the agreed terms.
• After a month: a phone call. A person talking to a person achieves more than a third e-mail.
• Finally: a last written reminder that clearly states what happens next.

Reminder fees can be added at every step. They increase with each reminder level and remind the customer that paying late has a cost. Mention them from the first reminder: they should not come as a surprise.

Keep the relationship

Chasing is not accusing. Before taking a firmer tone, ask why the invoice has not been paid:

• Was the invoice actually received? With Peppol, an invoice rejected or stuck in the customer’s system easily goes unnoticed.
• Is there a disagreement about a partial delivery, a discount or a quantity?
• Is the customer going through a difficult period? A payment plan is better than a lost customer.

In many cases, the delay comes from a simple problem that nobody took the time to report.

With atepi

In atepi, chasing payments no longer depends on someone’s memory:

• the aged balance shows at a glance who owes what, and for how long;
• reminder levels are prepared automatically according to the delay, with the reminder fees for each step;
• an alert appears when a customer exceeds their credit limit, before a new order is confirmed;
• the history of reminders stays attached to the customer, visible to the whole team.