When is the Best Time to Send Invoice to Clients?

Invoicing is an essential business operation.

It is invoicing that helps you get timely payments for running your business successfully. So, one question that hits an accountant’s mind is when to send an invoice.

The right time to invoice can help you pay back on time.

There are times when you might have to go on an outcall as a part of field service responsibility to help your team with the sales call. This also means that you have to punch out of the office for the day and manage the business finances of your business, starting from balancing books to authorizing paychecks.

The most crucial task a business owner faces is sending invoices for their services or work done. The question is when to send an invoice to clients. Can you send an invoice before the work is done, or do you need to send an invoice before or after payment? Or invoice before service? These are the few questions that might confuse you while managing your business.

To help you manage your business operations smoothly, we have come forth with a blog that helps you with three different options for sending an invoice to clients/customers. It will solve most of your doubts associated with invoices before or after payment.

Option 1: Send the invoice before starting the work

When you send an invoice template before the beginning of a job, it suits you perfectly for small-scale projects, and there are a few upsides and downsides to sending an invoice before service. Using online invoicing software, you can start sending invoice templates to your clients before the project is delivered.

Improved cash flow

Receiving money before you even start the project helps your business a lot in easing the cash flow. Not only you could buy supplies and resources required for the project from the sum received instead of buying on credit, but it also increases your chances of bidding on other projects simultaneously. Strong cash flow brings stability to any business, especially to freelancers and startups.

Sincerity towards the project

It is evident that if your project or services are paid in full before even you have started working on it, it means that you have made a legally binding commitment and shown your sincerity to complete the job in the required time. More importantly, it can harm the reputation and ruin client-customer relationships if the work is not delivered on time.

Indecisive clients

Many clients are indecisive about the invoicing and get anxious as they have paid in advance for the goods and services they have yet to receive. Small field service business operators suffer from the same conundrum as they have received the money for the project beforehand. Anxious clients add stress to already stressful projects.

Port clearance

In many cases, the client sends an invoice before service, known as a proforma invoice. Proforma invoices are more like proof of the service or purchase deal between the client and the seller. A Proforma invoice template is essential for port clearance during an import and export deal.

Option 2: Send invoice after completing the work

Secondly, when you are worried about when to send an invoice- you must read this section. More often than not, invoices are sent after the job is completed. Generally, field service businesses are also involved in sending invoices once the work is done. You can start sending invoices using our online invoice maker free software.

Unsure of payment

This is a bit tricky, sled. In most cases, after you finish a project for one of the regular clients, the incentives for customers to pay you to decrease. Many times, sending invoices after completing the job may also leave you nothing for the efforts if there aren’t any strict payment terms agreed upon.

Meet or exceed customer expectations

The purpose of sending an invoice before or after payment is to get you paid faster. Hence, once the job is done and invoices are sent, it may or may not help you manage your cash flow depending on the client’s payment schedule. Also, you try to convey to clients the incentive to meet or exceed the quality expectations by waiting to bill customers.

New clients or short-term project

Invoice before service implies the one-time projects or short-term projects where you are unsure about the payment. Hence, you need to send an invoice template after delivering the work details or the initial task. For example, if you are a writer- you can ask the client to pay you right after submitting the overall work summary or the first draft.

Option 3: Best of both

Still confused about when to send an invoice? Invoice before service? Invoice before or after the payment? Here is one more tip to conclude using online invoicing software.

The best way to attain a margin for your work is by taking advantage of getting paid before and after the work is done. To do this, make sure that you request an upfront payment of 25 to 30% of the project’s total cost. This should suffice you for purchasing any equipment and materials, to begin with, the task. Then, stipulate a final payment that covers the completion of a project.

Whether you send an invoice before or after the work, make sure that the payment terms and conditions of the project are mentioned in a legally binding contract. Moreover, you can also use automated invoicing software to help you with the time and expense tracking of the project. Invoicing and billing software can also help you manage the project, recurring invoices, customizing invoices, and many more other features.

Concluding note:

In the end, transitioning to the cloud-hosted invoicing generator is a viable option and a big step, but on the contrary, it also helps save you time and money. If you are considering simplifying your accounting and invoicing process and getting rid of tedious paperwork, then the best option for you to consider is Moon Invoice.

Following are the quick ways a business can benefit from Moon Invoice and could avoid a financial backlog.

• Schedule invoicing
• Direct invoicing
• Invoice any time, anywhere
• Organized invoicing system
• Ease cash flow management
• Manage multiple businesses
• Quickly import, export, print, and sync
• Create and manage your custom settings
• Manage multiple payment options and many more.

All this might sound expensive, but in reality, it is not. The online invoicing application from Moon Invoice comes with a 7-day free trial period to give you first-hand operational experience and the functionality feel of the app. So, we do not see any reasons for you to hold back from giving this much-awaited momentum to your business.

So, stop thinking when sending an invoice when you have a perfect invoicing solution to take care of different invoice templates.