Collecting payments as a consultant

[yetanotherfcw]

Is it common for a consultant to have difficult time collecting payments from some clients from time to time or you should be running your business so that you collect payments without much difficulty? I've been wondering about this.

[Soulwatcher]

Well unfortunately your going to find out collecting payments from clients can be a real pain at times. My only advice to you is stop there service after 10 or 15 days unpaid. They will either pay up or move to a new service. Other than that there really isn't much you can do.

[yetanotherfcw]

Originally Posted by Soulwatcher

Well unfortunately your going to find out collecting payments from clients can be a real pain at times.

Nice to know. I just collected a payment yesterday, but, boy, this woman took a while to make the payment. I was wondering if I am not running the business in the right way, but I guess it's not unusual. One thing I hate about collecting payments is that quite a few people start lying, and it's a kind of lie that even 10 years old can find see. That bothers me.

[QBall15j]

For your business clients I would recommend you get them to sign some sort of contract for monthly maintenance on their network/systems. It seems the more 'face to face' time you get with business clients the better in my experience. This also shows you're being proactive in catching problems/issues before they happen. Building a trust in your customer relationship is key to being successful.