The invoice is overdue. There is more work booked. Stopping feels aggressive and continuing feels foolish, so most businesses do neither and simply carry on while getting quietly anxious.
That middle option is the only one that reliably makes things worse.
Decide before you are in it
The decision is much easier when it was made in advance and applies to everybody. Something like: no new work starts while an invoice is more than thirty days overdue.
A rule is not personal. It is far easier to say "we do not start new work while something is outstanding" than to explain why you no longer trust this particular customer.
Separate the two questions
Finishing work in progress and starting new work are different decisions. Abandoning a half-done job usually damages you more than the customer, and can weaken your position on the money.
Completing what is started and declining what is not is nearly always the stronger place to stand.
Say it early and plainly
The conversation is much easier at thirty days than at ninety. Early on it is a process note. Late, it is an accusation.
State the position, not your feelings about it. The invoice, the date, and what happens next. No speech.
What usually happens
More often than people expect, the payment arrives. Not because the customer was tested, but because a firm date finally gave somebody inside their business a reason to move it up the queue.
And if it does not arrive, you have found out now rather than after doing another two months of unpaid work.
Leave a Comment