We try to be as responsive as we possibly can be to clients’ needs. We try to get back to emails and calls in a timely fashion, and if we can’t we will always try to post something to explain why we haven’t been able to respond. We also always try and respond to invoices in the same way. If someone has done something for us, and provided us with a service, and we are benefiting from it, we think they should be paid quickly for it. Luckily, most people we work with feel exactly the same way. However, sometimes, things can go very, very quiet on this front.
And, do you know what?
We know that cash flow/budget etc. are huge considerations for people and totally understand that when we invoice, people may be juggling other invoices, and sometimes decisions have to be made about what gets paid first. We encourage people to communicate with us and we will always find a solution. It’s really hard to do this though, when the work has been done and delivered and the communication just stops. We hate sending reminders – it feels like we’re hassling and maybe exacerbating a delicate situation AND it takes up loads of our time, when we could otherwise be doing something much rewarding. Like designing.
We try not to send final artwork or put websites live before final balances have been paid, but we have to take each project on its merit and sometimes we feel that this is the right thing to do. So it makes it even more insulting when we have done this, and then the communication dries up, and no sniff of payment is forthcoming.
Like everyone, we have bills to pay. Like everyone who provides a service, we like to be paid for it – when that service is provided. We’d never consider going into a shop, or a restaurant, or a salon, benefiting from the service provided and then leaving, going quiet and paying at a later date. Going quiet at such a critical time, really isn’t the decent thing to do…