Accuracy and details are crucial when invoicing business clients on retainer or for goods or services provided by your company. In fact, there are some attributes that can be added to invoices to prompt early payment or at least reduce the risk of late payments.
Use these invoicing best practices so your B2B clients pay on time.
What Should Be Included on Invoices?
Generally, businesses rely on invoicing software to invoice clients. When creating your account, the software will prompt you for company information. Best practices for building invoices are to include the following:
- Business name
- Company logo
- Company information
- Contact name (typically someone in your accounts receivable department)
- Address
- Contact phone number and email address
- Company website
- Client information
- Contact name (someone in accounts payable, contract signer or another contact)
- Address
- Contact phone number and email address
- Invoice number
- Invoice date
- Payment due date - refer to your agreement for payment terms
- Description of goods or services provided
- Accurate descriptions
- Dates goods delivered/shipped, work performed, or dates of retainer
- Quantity of hours worked
- Hourly rate (if needed)
- Subtotal
- Total cost
- Payment options
- Tax id number
- Added information related to late fees or incentives for paying early
See also: Can You Charge Late Fees on B2B Invoices?
What Encourages Prompt Payment?
All of the details on your invoice are necessary for your clients to know why they're being billed. It may also be helpful to include a purchase order or contract number so that their accounts payable department can match the invoice with the agreement on their side.
Payment terms, including when payment is due (Net 30 days, for example), and payment options (such as credit card, check, or ACH) are also necessary so the accounts payable contact understands your payment expectations.
Late fees and incentives for paying early can be a part of your signed contract agreement as well as listed on the invoice.
If your clients are still not paying on time, you can send a friendly collections letter as a reminder. When your clients know why they're being invoiced and how they're expected to pay, they're less likely to delay payments to your business.
