Being an entrepreneur can be tough. There are several aspects that go into being successful. In order to be that, we must attract clients, maintain them, and ultimately make a profit. As entrepreneurs, we understand that the months are sometimes long and very uncertain because of this; we understand how important it is to attract clients that will actually acquire our service and pay the invoice! But what happens when the client fails to pay? What do we do when we’ve extended ourselves and the payment hasn’t come through yet? I am going to provide you with some tips that will help you secure the bag while keeping your professionalism intact. Maintaining paying clients is harder than most people think. Many entrepreneurs struggle and think attracting clients is tough, but I’ve found great resolve in ensuring services are priced for my ideal client and their wallet.
What I have found in my work is to be very practical and logical when it comes to offering services to clients. I used to offer my services to people based on their word. I would trust referral or relationship and to my dismay I discovered this was a big “no no.” When you first start your business your price points are experimental and over time they increase. It’s important to get your services to the ideal client. Try your best NOT to barter services. I found that there can be some complications with this method of “helping out.” It can result in cheapening your brand, maybe not all the time, but if done enough, then certainly there’s a greater chance of this happening. It can send the wrong message to your audience. If word gets out that you’ve exchanged service for service it may be tough for a client to respect your brand and time, leaving you devalued and underpaid.
Here are a few more tips to secure paying clients:
- Ensure that you have some form of contract in place with your potential client prior to starting services. Although this contract may not guarantee total payment, it will at least offer some type of security in the event that the contract is breached. You want people to respect your brand and having agreements in place with your expectations and terms helps.
- Learn how to filter through your clients. As I mentioned earlier, you want to make sure you’re targeting the right clients. This makes it a lot easier to determine whether a person is actually serious about your services before you get to the payment. Often times we will meet people and they will love our brand, love our services, love who you are, but simply cannot afford us.
- Never start a project without some form of payment. It doesn’t matter if it’s 25% or 50%—something is better than nothing. It shows you’re serious about your time and services.
- Communicate, communicate, communicate! Make sure you inform your client weekly or biweekly. Of course, this depends on the project but you want your client to know you’re working on their project. You want to demonstrate that the job is important and all issues are on the table and up-front. This leaves less room for discrepancies.
- Lastly, don’t deliver the product until you’re paid in full. That’s right—the client receives the completed project when they’ve sent you all your funds. Let them know ahead of time what happens if payment isn’t received as well.
Understand that business is a risk! There is an assumption of risk in all that we do, so be prepared to take some losses. However, don’t make it easy for anyone to run off on you. Putting these mechanisms in place will most certainly help you minimize your loss and your potential for it.
[et_bloom_inline optin_id=optin_13]