Get invoices paid on time with Direct Debit
The reason a customer pays late is rarely that they won't. It's that paying you is a small chore they keep putting off. Direct Debit takes the chore away.
Where it hurts
If you invoice the same people regularly, a retainer, a monthly service, a maintenance contract, you're effectively relying on each of them to remember to pay you every single time. Some do, some don't, and you're the one holding the shortfall.
Card payments help but they still need someone to act. Direct Debit flips it: once a customer authorises it, the money comes to you on the due date without either of you doing anything.
The barrier is usually just that setting it up looks like a hassle, so people never get round to it and keep chasing instead.
What I'd build
I'd set you up on GoCardless and connect it to your accounts package so a Direct Debit is collected automatically when an invoice falls due. It plugs into Xero, QuickBooks and FreeAgent, so the payment reconciles itself against the right invoice. For your regular clients I'll build a simple way to get them signed up once, then those invoices essentially collect themselves. Fees are low and predictable, and failed collections retry and flag automatically.
What changes
- Regular invoices collect themselves on the due date
- Customers sign up once instead of paying every month
- Payments reconcile against the right invoice automatically
- Far less chasing, because there's nothing to chase
Related fixes
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