Five Invoicing Mistakes To Avoid

When talking about business, people usually focus on only two aspects: Doing the work, and getting paid.

Now, there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that those two aspects are crucial to the success of any business, and it’s a normal thing to keep your focus on them, but there is one tiny aspect that, if ignored, can ruin your entire business and leave you on your knees, penniless and frustrated.

That ‘tiny’ aspect, with the business-ruining potential of Michael Dell is called invoicing, and doing it wrong will most definitely break your company.

In order to ensure the safety and survival of your business, you must try not to be sloppy while invoicing. That’s why I’ve come up with five simple tips you should keep an eye out on, when doing the work:

# Back your data up!

Backing up and securing your data is one of the biggest trends in 2015. IT Pro Portal says the cyber insurance industry is worth £55.6 billion, and it’s no wonder. According to a study conducted by ISACA and RSA Conference of 649 cyber-security and IT managers or practitioners, 77 per cent of those polled experienced an increase in attacks in 2014. All things said, it’s very likely someone might break into your system and destroy your invoicing data. Without proper backup (on the cloud and in hard copy), you risk losing your data and thus losing your customer records and invoices.

# Don’t send them to the wrong address

Google’s Gmail has an ‘undo’ option, for when you rashly send your email. Sometimes people forget to put attachments into the email before hitting send, and sometimes they just send it to the wrong email address. Hey, maybe there are two John Greens, and you just sent your invoice to the wrong client, bummer!

If you’re not using Gmail, and you don’t have the undo option, then you should be extra careful when sending out invoices.

# Sending the wrong figures

As you might understand by now, all of these tips will mount up to one thing – getting the image of professionalism to your clients. If you’re sloppy while invoicing, they might also believe you’re sloppy in your work, and that could lead to lead to bigger issues, and in the end – losing the client. If you send the wrong figures and undercharge your client, not only will he think of you as sloppy, but you are also risking financial losses. And if you overcharge them, they might think you’re trying to scam them for money. So make sure you have a proper accounting system in place, and a quality invoice template to prevent duplicates.

# Itemizing

Heed this warning: You do not want to forget itemizing your invoice. When you’re sending out the invoice, make sure you write down, in clear and concise language, what you’re invoicing him / her for, and break it down to individual parts. For all you know, your client might be getting dozens of invoices every day, and if he doesn’t get in writing what he’s being charged for, he might just leave you waiting for longer than you’d like.

# Follow-up

The last, but definitely not the least on this list is the follow-up email. After you’ve sent the invoice, don’t forget to give your client a short call just to let him know the invoice was sent. And if he fails to make the payment in the next week (or within a given deadline), don’t be afraid to give him / her another call. It’s just curtesy.