Whenever needing to second invoices to your clients, have you ever noticed any problems?
Not a lot of company accountants know this, but there are a fair few problems that can happen when sending such vital documents. And we must familiarize ourselves with them to know how to avoid them in the future.
Considering that most companies consider it as a vital operation, perfecting your invoice game will prevent any misunderstandings with your clients.
So if you’re interested in what these problems are and how to avoid them, this is the article for you. With all that said, let’s start.
1. Missing Invoices
This is the most common problem and it’s actually one that can do plenty of damage to your reputation and finances. Whenever doing a service for an individual or outsourcing your services to other companies, you’ll send them a receipt and expect to get paid.
As you can imagine, not getting paid can severely impact cash flow, and that’s something you don’t want.
But the most common problem with old invoice generators is the fact that it doesn’t notify you that you need to confirm it before the document is sent to your clients.
The only way to avoid this problem is by using the very best invoice generator that is built with the latest features.
2. Confusing the Client
Regardless of how professional we feel the writing on the document is, our clients can still get confused over it. While most expect to receive a document that states the job in exchange for the number of dollars, some businesses go the extra mile to unintentionally confuse the client.
The language in which the invoice is written can have a significant impact on what your client actually reads. Instead of using big words and trying to impress the client, write the document as simple as possible.
3. Missing Information
No doubt one of the biggest problems with these documents is the fact that many businesses are sending inaccurate data. Whenever our customers receive our invoices, they need to see what exactly they’re paying for, when they need to pay it, and how much of it, among other things.
If there is missing information, then there is a very real chance you won’t get paid the very same moment you send the invoice. Instead, your client will need to find the problem or get in touch with you to send another sample.
The way to prevent this problem is by sending clear and specific information. If there is a due date, then be specific about it. Your clients will have a hard time managing the deadline if you don’t clearly tell them when it is.
If you want to encourage them to pay earlier, specifically tell them about any discounts or incentives you have for paying clients who do it early. Also, be sure to notify them of any penalties or fees if they fail to reach the deadline.
All this can be avoided by using a quality invoice generator that looks at the mistakes of past software and seeks to perfect your invoices. If that’s something that you’re looking for, then make sure to visit paystubsnow.com.
4. Errors
Missing information and errors are generally different, but plenty of people consider them very similar. And that’s quite reasonable considering that the difference is quite small.
With missing information, you unintentionally or intentionally leave our key bits of information. With errors, well that’s just a mistake. An example of an invoicing mistake is forgetting to add the purchase order. As you can imagine, not every business owner is an accountant so these errors can happen.
But forgetting to mention the purchase order is a big error that will result in a delayed payment.
Other types of errors include charging twice for the same product or service, errors in adding decimal numbers, and many more.
These are all honest mistakes that can be easily avoided by using the very best invoice generator out there. Many of these are automated and require you to only add the key information. It will also notify you that you’re missing information if you fail to do so.
5. Continues Errors
As always, there is the chance that these errors simply keep happening. Businesses don’t have the time to wait on delayed payments, and clients certainly don’t have the time for businesses that keep making invoicing mistakes.
Continuously making errors with these documents can lead to mistrust between the client and yourself. Both client and business lose in these situations. The client loses the trust while the business doesn’t get paid.
And as we mentioned earlier, you need to get paid to maintain cash flow. The easiest way to prevent this problem is to double-check every invoice you send. You can also get an automated invoice generator that does it for you.
6. Wrong Contact Information
And the last problem we’ll discuss has to do with adding wrong contact information. Most companies have specific contact information such as a number and email where their clients can specifically contact them.
And this information is vital if the client has any questions to ask before they pay for the services. Big businesses and large corporations have whole divisions responsible for making sure the contact information isn’t wrong.
But smaller companies make honest mistakes and typos. If you give the client the wrong contact information, then chances are you won’t get paid on time.
If you’ve left them 30 days to pay, then you will not even notice that the return invoice has come after a month! You can imagine the hassle of having to deal with such a mistake.
You can avoid this problem by reviewing and updating your contact information every six to twelve months. This ensures that you haven’t made any mistakes and your clients can reach you with the return document every time they pay it.
Conclusion
It’s absolutely vital that you eradicate these problems whenever sending invoices to your clients. Anything but that will result in a loss of cash flow and more problems for your business.