Tools · Playbook
When a client hasn’t paid
Most invoices that go unpaid are invoices nobody was reminded about. So start with reminders: four messages, from the day before it’s due to a month late, and not one of them angry.
After those comes a decision. Every hour spent chasing is an hour you could have billed, so below a certain amount the chase costs more than the invoice is worth.
Put the invoice in and every message below fills itself in. Nothing is stored and nothing is sent.
The day before it is due
Remind them before anybody is late
Nothing has gone wrong yet, so this one costs nothing to send.
Hi Sam, A quick note that invoice 1042 for $480 is due tomorrow. The payment link is below and it takes a minute. If it's already gone out, ignore me. Thanks, Maya
Three days late
Assume it was missed, because it usually was
Keep any tone out of it. Nothing has happened yet that's worth being annoyed about.
Hi Sam, Invoice 1042 for $480 was due a few days ago and I don't think it's come through yet. The payment link is below. If it's stuck at your end, tell me and I'll send it wherever it needs to go. Thanks, Maya
Two weeks late
Say what happens next, once
Name a consequence you'll follow through on. Don't name one you won't.
Hi Sam, Invoice 1042 for $480 is two weeks overdue now. I haven't heard back on the last two notes, so I'd rather be straightforward about where that leaves us. I'm holding your next session until it's settled, and I'd rather not. If there's a problem with the amount or the timing, tell me today and we'll work something out. The link is below. Maya
A month late
The last message before it becomes a decision
It states the amount, the deadline and what follows, in words you'd be content for a third party to read later.
Hi Sam, Invoice 1042 for $480 has been outstanding for a month now, and I've written three times. I need it settled within seven days. If it isn't, I'll stop work and take the steps open to me to recover it. I'd much rather hear from you today. Maya
After the final notice
Decide with the arithmetic, not the anger
The question now is whether pursuing it costs you more than it recovers, and that depends on the amount.
Is $480 worth chasing?
Send the four messages and then stop.
At a rate of $134 an hour, four hours of chasing has already cost you more than the invoice. Write it off, keep the record, and don't work with them again.
One formal demand letter, then small claims if you mean it.
A filing fee is usually $50 to $150 and no lawyer is needed, but budget most of a day. Only file if you'd turn up on the date.
A lawyer's letter first. It costs a few hundred and often ends it.
At this size the letter alone often recovers it, and you can still go further if it doesn't.
Small claims limits, filing fees and what counts as a formal demand vary by state and by country. This is what the arithmetic looks like, not legal advice.
Four ways to keep it from happening again
You decide each of these once, before the next invoice goes out.
Take the money before the work where you can
Take payment at booking for anything short, and there's no invoice to chase.
Put a due date on everything, decided once
One number for every client and every invoice. Fourteen days is normal.
Ask for half up front on anything large
A deposit is normal for project work. It covers the work you do first, and it tells you early whether somebody can pay.
Have terms they accepted before they owed you anything
The argument at day thirty is shorter when there's a line they agreed to about when money is due. One sentence is enough.
Or nobody has to remember
WorkWith gives every invoice a due date. The day it passes, one Today item appears, and reminders go out from your own name on the interval you choose, stopping after three.
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