Do you want to get paid? Yes? Then let’s talk about how you get paid. The easier you can make this step, the easier it is for your customers/clients to pay you.
It is inevitable when I’m speaking to a group about bookkeeping tips and it comes to the Q&A that someone will ask the best platforms to send invoices and receive payments. While this is a valid question and you absolutely need to find a platform that works for you, this isn’t the best question to ask. The better question is how you can make it a good experience for your clients.
You must provide the payment options
It’s tempting to think that you’ll simply accept payment any way someone wants to pay you. You send an invoice and wait for the money to roll in. Check? Sure. PayPal or Venmo? Send it over. This may seem logical, but it actually diminishes the experience for both of you.
For your client, they open the invoice and go to pay it, but it’s not clear how to do so. Now it’s on them to figure out what to do next. Since this may take more than a couple minutes, they may put it aside and move onto something else. It’s not easy. If there was a button or instructions right there, they are more likely to pay it right away to get it off of their desk. Easy.
For you, accepting a multitude of payment options is logistically challenging. More accounts, more places money is flowing in from, more things to track. It’s more complicated.
Choose how you’re going to get paid, and tell your clients. This is how it works in any business you walk into. You’re not going to ask the cashier at the grocery store or your dentist office if you can Venmo them. You’re going to pay using their system. Set up the system for your own business. Your clients shouldn’t need certain accounts or to jump through hoops to pay you.
Accept credit cards
Yes, there are fees and paying the fees kinda stinks. No, there aren’t ways to accept credit cards that have extremely low fees. It’s worth it to accept credit cards.
Processing fees are a part of doing business. You simply accept that and build it into your pricing structure. And please do not add it on as a separate line item if someone wants to pay by credit card. That’s tacky and unprofessional.
Credit cards are easy. Clients don’t have to worry about what their bank balance is or security measures. They put in the information and move on like we all do in the era of online shopping.
Of course, if you’re working with big corporations some of this may not apply, but in most cases this rings true. Put some strategic thought into this piece of your business. It’s even better if you can find a way to make payments automatic.
Remove as many barriers to getting paid as possible, and watch how much easier it becomes!