As a business owner, you're dedicated to managing your relationships with your customers. You've agreed on the products or services that help their business and you've agreed how much they will pay your business.  You may have also learned that you have to set boundaries with your customers, especially when it comes to paying their invoices.  They need to know how much they owe, how to pay, who to pay and when payment is due. 

Setting invoice payment terms protects your business. Here's how.

When working a 9 to 5 grind has got you down, you may be considering how to start your own business. If you've been the expert at something in a corporate job, you could break into the business of speaking about it or even consulting to other businesses.  Do you want to make money with your expertise, working on your own terms, and are you ready to get started?

Entrepreneurship starts when you decide what you're good at and how to sell that.

Here are best practices for starting a consulting business to get paid doing what you love.

As an owner of a B2B business, or even if you work in accounts receivable for a B2B business, you know the headache of tracking down past due invoice payments. While it would seem that you've done everything necessary to prompt on-time payments, there's always that one client that pays late or not at all. If you've ever considered hiring a B2B debt collection agency, you might have questions about their processes to collect what's owed. What will they do for you? And most importantly, how much does it cost?

Have you ever wondered ... will B2B collection agencies work hard to recover my company's cash?

Whether you're a freelancer, contractor, startup or small business, tax season is the time of year that reveals any changes in your business over the past year.  If you've not kept up with your income and expenses, tax season will kick you into gear. If you're unsure about write-offs, deductions or even how much tax you owe, tax season is the time to get  informed.

Do you know if your growing business is prepared for tax season?

If yours is a B2B business, it means that you're relying heavily on your valuable business partners. Much like any relationship, you're only going to feel as comfortable as the level of trust you have with these business partners. Getting to know them better also means that you understand their goals, their pain points and what keeps them up at night.  Knowing your clients will also give you a heads up if they're facing difficulties that may affect your relationship.

How well do you know your clients?

If this blog is anything, we hope that it's helpful to small and growing businesses. Our focus is intended to offer education on getting organized, retaining clients and ensuring that your invoices are paid in a timely manner.  

We've reviewed the most popular blog posts and topics so that we can bring more of the same to our readers. If you have any suggestions, please leave us a comment so we continue bringing you helpful tips to employ in your business.

Top B2B & Debt Collections Blogs

In many growing companies, sales teams acknowledge new business with a mini-celebration. Every little bit of encouragement helps when business development seems to be working. After the celebration, the rest of the organization prepares to bring on the new client. Accounting sets them up as a new customer, the product gets shipped or the agreed-upon service is provided. An invoice is subsequently sent to the client and the wait begins. 

What happens when customers pay late or not at all? What then?

If the thought of an uncomfortable meeting with your client makes your stomach hurt, you're probably already shuddering at the title of this post. Invoice disputes usually mean that the client owes you money and is simply unwilling to pay what you're asking. Is it possible to figure out a solution to this situation with an in-person meeting? 

Should you handle an invoice dispute in person?

The weather has turned colder, holiday shoppers are looking for gift ideas and your Accounting team is cleaning up year-end finances. It's during this time of the year that they're taking a closer look at unpaid accounts receivable invoices and deciding what to do.  Before taking a financial loss, there may still be an opportunity to collect on some outstanding accounts. Read on to determine what to do next. 

Should your business write off bad debt at the end of the year?

No one goes into a relationship, business or otherwise, planning how to end it. Firing a client is an unfortunate necessity when things go terribly wrong. The first thing to determine is your last straw. This client may be:

• consistently asking for services beyond the scope of the contract.
• pushing back on everything they're paying you for.
• difficult to work with.
• not paying you for all of the work you've already done.

Now that you know you've had enough, do you know what to do next?

Here's what to say and do when you're firing a client.