Did you know that it takes, on average, 9.4 days for someone to pay your invoice? That can have a negative impact on your cashflow! It’s common for New Zealand small businesses to struggle keeping the cash flowing in while the cash is flowing out.

Xero is a fantastic tool that makes your accounting easy and almost enjoyable. With a couple of changes to how you process your invoicing, you can get paid faster.

Use these four tips to increase your chances of getting paid faster and improve the cash flow in your business.

Invoice straight away

You have probably heard this one before…invoice as soon as you can because your client can’t pay until you’ve invoiced them.

The theory behind this is clients are more likely to pay straight away for goods or services that they have just received rather than making them wait days or weeks (which is what happens when you invoice monthly!).

Your client is more likely to forget about the amazing service you provided and more likely to question your invoice.

Ask for prompt payment

Back in the day it was standard business practice to wait until the 20^th for payment but this is no longer necessary. Internet banking and online credit card payments have now made a 7-day payment term standard practice.

Be easy to pay

Have you ever received an invoice that didn’t include bank account details? It is such a hassle going back and requesting these details. It’s also easy to over-look this small yet crucial information, especially if you use Excel or an invoice book to create your invoices.

Your clients will pay faster if they have your payment details on the invoice and don’t have to chase you for details.

Chase payments

Did you know with using Xero, you can set up Invoice Reminders? This has literally changed the way we do credit control (that’s chasing payments). Online invoicing makes it easier to track and reconcile payments against invoices. Not only does that save time, it makes knowing who hasn’t paid so much easier.

Do you want to get paid faster?

Ready to take the plunge and get your money sorted? Sign up for a free Xero trial – it’s pretty painless and we can help if it goes over your head.

Once you have set up your account and entered all your business details, you’ll be ready to email your invoices directly to your clients.

You’ll have to add in your Chart of Accounts, balances etc but don’t let that put you off – we can help you with all that so it’s easy for you. Send us a message to get started.