Best Business Practices for Photographers [181]
How to Engage the Client and the Accounting Department
More often than not, the client has received the invoice and just forgot to take action to begin the payment process. When we mailed invoices, we always heard, "Oh, I never got it." So, we began delivering invoices in the envelope that included the deliverable. Then, we'd get, "Oh, I didn't see it in there. Can you resend it?" So, we began to actually wrap the deliverable with the invoice, and we'd get the same response. Faxing always seemed an excuse for the client to say their fax machine was down or they still didn't get it. One solution has proven to be far less susceptible to these excuses. (Or are they explanations?)
E-mail. If they didn't get it, you'll get a bounce-back telling you so. If your e-mail program includes a return receipt function and you enable it, you'll know when the client opened the e-mail. (We don't actually do this, though, because we think it's annoying.) Back when accounting departments stipulated that they wouldn't pay faxed invoices, we began referring to our invoices as "electronic originals," and that seemed to suit the accountants just fine. We produce an Acrobat PDF document that we attach to our correspondence.
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NOTE
For Apple users, the Save as PDF option appears whenever you use the Print function in any application. For PC users, the full Adobe Acrobat application is necessary to create a PDF.
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Although you're more than likely using some form of invoice-generating software, if it's just a word processor, understand that the accounting department will want the word "Invoice," the invoice number, the date, and your full address on the invoice somewhere. When an invoice is missing these things, it will often be the culprit of a late-paying client.
The subject line we use is usually "Photo Invoice – Widget Ad Photography." This makes it clear that there's something important in the e-mail. Lines such as "Greetings again," "Hi there," or "Nice working with you" will almost always be overlooked, and moreover might end up in the spam folder. Many e-mail applications allow you to flag an e-mail as high importance, which can reduce the likelihood that it will end up getting lost or be considered spam by their spam filters.
My e-mail usually goes something like this:
This is short, sweet, and to the point. It also reminds the client to get a PO number if their company requires it. If we've already received the PO number, I am sure to include that on the invoice.
At this point, the next time you contact the company, your best call is to the accounting department. Depending upon my workload, I will try to call the accounting department two weeks or so after we've sent the invoice. If it's a small company, then a call to the originating individual is warranted, but almost always it's a larger company with people dedicated to paying invoices.
The conversation usually goes something like this:
Them: "Accounts payable, how can I help you?"
Me:"Hi, this is John Harrington Photography calling regarding an invoice that is coming due soon. We were calling to make sure it is in your system and set to pay."
At this point, we get one of the following:
Them: "Yes, but we need a W-9 from you."
Them: "You're talking to the wrong office. You need to call…."
Them: "No, we have no record of having received your invoice."
If you get the first response, offer to e-mail that person your PDF of your W-9. If you get the second response, make a note of the new information (because you'll probably need it) and then start from the beginning. However, you'll usually get the third response. So, the dialogue continues:
Me: "Okay, well, we performed the services for the company more than two weeks ago, and we forwarded