[consulting] Proper Collections Procedure

[Harry Slaughter]

Henri Poole wrote:
> Who is the deadbeat client?

Yeah, I definitely don't want to get into naming anyone here :)

Best bet is for others to try to learn from experiences such as mine. 
This is definitely a worst case scenario for me.

Main things I've learned from my experience as an indy so far are:

- the second a client is behind on payments, stop all work.
- always take a significant deposit up front. if client objects, pass.
- don't let client owe you more money than you'd be willing to sacrifice 
if things go south.
- find a competent lawyer (...er...) and draw up a contract that makes 
your terms crystal clear.

other ideas that i'll probably use:

- require frequent payments (my preference) I invoice weekly. If client 
objects, pass.
- Increase rate by N% and offer it as a discount for on time payments.


> Any potential client that approached us that hadn't settled up with
> someone in our community would get a cold shoulder from us.

Personally, I like this idea, but it's not very professional :)

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Harry Slaughter <-> harry at slaughters.com
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