[url][/url]Invoicing is one of the most important business task yet most small business owners and freelancers dread when its time to send bills to their customers. This invoicing habit has delayed payment to many business owners and caused several business to go under because they overlook the very livewire of any business
However, invoicing is more than just getting paid for the services that you provided. It’s also a way to build stronger relationships with your existing clients.
Demonstrating your professionalism in the way you invoice and your invoicing timeliness will keep your cash flow consistent. Using online software like www.acuteinvoice.com can make your business look big while you are still growing it
In your invoice, thank your client for using your services, this puts them in a receptive attitude. By thanking them you are also setting the stage for up selling additional products or services.
This is your business and having good invoicing habits is important. You are projecting the image of your business. Being perceived in a negative light sets up several mental processes in the mind of your client.
These powerful images are difficult to undo. If you have an unprofessional attitude, or show a sense of carelessness — this leaks out. How can you expect them to pay their invoice on-time?
What you are looking for is up selling other services, having them as a repeat customer and you want them to refer you to others. All of these pluses can quickly be lost if you pay little to zero attention to your invoicing.
Let’s address the freelancer and small business owners, as they are marching forward as one of the largest sectors in business. What does your invoicing habits say about you as a freelancer or a small business owner?
Here’s a look at eight of the most common billing habits small-business owners have and how these influence billing.

1. You require a down payment.
Asking for a down payment — whether it’s broken-up 50/50 or into thirds — is a better common practice among business owners of all-sizes. It indicates to the client that you’re committed, reliable and trustworthy.
Requiring a down payment signals that you are a professional who takes their job seriously and knows how to operate their business.
After all, there are expenses that you’re responsible for during the course of the project. You don’t want to take the chance of getting stiffed monetarily on an entire project.
Since you’re now indebted to the client, they can rest assured that you’re going to deliver quality work by the agreed-upon deadline.
In short, a down payment protects both you and the client.

2. You don’t have a written agreement.
In an ideal world you wouldn’t need a written agreement. Gone are the good old days where “the ole handshake is my bond.” Some of those myths cannot be confirmed — if they worked at all — but that’s not the case today.
Working with a client without a written agreement shows that you’re naively trusting and you may be easy to take advantage of. . To protect yourself, and your business, you should have your clients sign a contract so that they can’t bail on you when the bill arrives. Agreement don’t have to be complicated, just make sure you keep it simple by agreeing on the scope of work and the payment terms

3. You bill them immediately after completing a project.
It’s common practice to invoice a customer once you’ve completed a project for them or service. This ensures that you won’t forget to bill them later.
One problem that creeps up is that your invoicing cycle may not sync with their billing cycle. For example, if they’re billing is on the first of the month, and you invoice them on the 7th. In this situation you’re going to have to wait at least three weeks until that bill is paid.
Some clients are suspicious of invoices that come in immediately following the completion of a project. Maybe they believe that you’re overcharging them. Maybe they want to check out your work more thoroughly.
Invoicing tip: If you have a written agreement in place then that should determine when you’re going to invoice the client. Prior to starting work for them, find out when they prefer to pay their bills. Aligning your billing cycle with their payment cycle just makes sense.
Always send them an itemized breakdown of the products, services or expenses. The last thing you want is your invoice to be held up because they are questioning if you’re overcharging them.

4. Bad invoicing habits — you forget to bill.
One of the worst mistakes that a business owner can do is to forget to bill their customers. It shows that you’re unprofessional and could care less if you get paid or not. It goes without saying, it’s also detrimental to your cash flow.
Even worse? When you do finally get around to invoicing your customers will put off paying you. Your client believes that it wasn’t that big of a deal for you in the first place.
As a general rule, never put off your invoicing. The longer you wait, the less likely you’re going to get paid.

5. You never follow up.
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Its a really nice post. I loved reading. I would also like to mention that for any business nowadays it really important to have a billing and invoicing software. Recently a year ago me and my partner have started a little fashion boutique for the brides. and our one was the only of its kind shop in that area. Soon we are getting noticed by the locals and our shop just started to run. and with the time we have grown up our business. but where we started the business we haven't considered some of the essential tools that are required to run a small business well. we used to manage to bill and invoicing in simple excel spreadsheets, but as the data increased the spreadsheet looks messy, so need to buy an efficient software to manage those things. after many recommandation, we have adopted the HDPOS Smart (https://www.hyperdrivesolutions.com/hdpos-smart/retail-pos-software). its really helped us and made our business easy to handle.
So, I just want to say that before starting any business one should consider the required tools and solutions.