Getting Paid

I was speaking with an obviously talented designer yesterday and she mentioned the trouble she has getting paid. Getting paid is a problem for all businesses.
I know I’ve had my share of people taking an age to pay over the years.
In our efforts (and by “our” I mean all of us) to be a good business and provide the best service for our clients we all strive to be ‘nice’ and to be flexible on payment. But if you’re too nice people will take advantage of you and slow your cashflow to a crawl – you can then spend half your time chasing debts and your business suffers.
After a couple of years of that I initiated a few fairly obvious strategies (obvious to me now!).
3 Best Debt Collection Bits Of Advice For Web Developers
1. Always get a deposit before you start – we ask for 50% (I’ve never ever had a client question that)
2. Never make the web site live until the client makes the final payment (otherwise they have no incentive to pay. If they’re excited about the site they’ll want to see it up ASAP – and so they’ll pay ASAP)
3. Stick to a system for debt collection – no exceptions (make it as automated as possible)
Hope that is of some help.
Cheers
Brendon