#204 - Append this sentence to every invoice

“Please confirm receipt.”

This simple sentence in your invoice, or especially in the email in which you attach your invoice, can save you from a world of pain.

(In fact, you should add this to any deliverable, transfer or situation in which you may need to prove it arrived!)

Yet, I failed to do this whilst working for a client whose payment terms are 'on the 28th of the month, after the month, you submit your invoice in'.

So an invoice submitted in early December 2021 won't get paid till the 28th January 2022.

By now in my freelancing career I should know better but the lessons you learn the hard way are the ones you tend not to forget.

So today I'm learning that you don't want to be waiting around for an invoice to be paid, then become overdue - only then to start investigating - and at that point discover that the accounts team 'didn't get your invoice' and then have to wait a few more weeks (months!) for them to actually pay it.

Create a draft invoicing email today and make sure this sentence is in it;

“Please confirm receipt.”

Maybe in bold and underlined.

That way, if they do fail to confirm receipt you can spring into action;
forewarned is forearmed.