If you offer different products and/or services to your clients, you probably need to make invoices every day. If you include all the necessary and important information, you can make sure that you get paid on time, which means that you’ll be able to have a steady cash flow within your business. However, what happens if these documents don’t look professional?
To put it simply, if you don’t have a professional-looking invoice, it might cause a delay in payment, and in some situations, you might not get paid at all. This is why you must ensure that they look professional, but more importantly, you need to include all the important information that your customer can view.
This is why you might now be wondering – what are the most common signs that I need to make my invoices more professional? Luckily for all individuals that are wondering the same thing, the article below can help. Let’s take a closer look at the list of signs that imply that you might need to change some things.
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1. No Adding The Document Title And Number
One of the first things that could imply that you need to change things up when generating invoices is not adding the document title. What does this mean I should do? Well, in order to get paid, there are different documents that you could send to your clients including a quote, receipt, and a credit note.
If you don’t place the term “invoice” on your document, it’s possible that your customer won’t pay you on time, simply because they might think that it’s something else. Additionally, you must include the number of each bill to clearly identify and record all the numbers and references utilized.
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2. Not Adding Your Company’s Information
Yet another thing that could end up delaying your payments is if you don’t add your company information. This means that you must add your organization’s name, address, as well as your email or telephone number that your clients could use if they need to contact you with some questions.
3. Not Adding Your Client’s Information
Although this is something quite common when generating bills, a lot of people often overlook adding this segment. If you don’t add the client’s info, you might not get paid at all, simply because your customer might think that you sent the wrong bill to them, so, ensure that you clearly state the customer’s information.
4. Not Having a Suitable Template
Trust me, you don’t want your receipts to be completely messy and unreadable, mostly because your clients won’t be able to read and understand them. This is why you need to ensure that you have a suitable template for these documents, mostly because this will ensure that everything display on it is clear.
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Keep in mind, there is a wide range of online invoice generators that’ll ensure that your bills are clear, but more importantly, that it’s readable. If you’re interested in using such generators, ensure that you read more about them, mostly because there are various options out there.
5. No Adding a Detailed Description of The Services/Products Provided
It’s not enough to simply place the overall expenses your clients have, instead, you must add a clear and detailed description of all the products and/or services you provided your clients with. Keep in mind, you should put each item or service in separate lines since this will help your customer clearly identify what they’re paying for.
6. Not Adding The Date of Supply + The Statement Date
The date of supply or as it’s also referred to as supply date is the exact period when you provided the products/services to your client. Now, you should know, the date can be different for each of the ones you generate and it’ll depend on the things you offer, however, in most cases, it’s usually within thirty days.
Another important thing that you need to add is the date of the invoice. Now, this doesn’t mean that you should repeat yourself and add when you supplied the services or goods, instead, this date refers to when you generate the document. Not adding it will certainly make your bill look bad, so ensure that you don’t overlook it.
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7. The Value of The Items Provided + The Overall Value
Since you’ll be making a list of all the items you provided your client with, and since there will be a clear description of what you provided in separate lines, you should also mark each of them with individual values. Why do you need to do this? Well, by doing this, your client will know exactly what and how much they’re paying for specific things.
When you’re done adding all the separate amounts needed to be paid, you should also add the overall value of the invoice. Keep in mind, you should never round up the number, especially since this will make the documents look unprofessional, instead, you should always clearly state the exact amount needed to be paid. This means that, for example, if the total amount of your bill is $567.90, you should add that exact amount.
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8. The Payment Conditions
Last on our list, but equally important as the other things on this list is the fact that you cannot forget to add the payment terms and conditions. This is something that your client has agreed on, which is why you need to guarantee that it’s correct. These terms are the periods when the customer needs to pay for the items/services you provided and it’s usually a period of 30 days.
Conclusion
There is a wide range of signs that might indicate that you’re generating invoices that aren’t professional-looking. However, if you choose to correct or avoid all of the things we mentioned in the list above, you’ll be able to make them readable, professional, and more importantly, you could ensure that you get paid on time.
So, now that you’re aware of what mistakes you need to avoid making, you shouldn’t lose any more of your time. Instead, you should think about what you need to change, choose an online invoice generator, and then start making invoices that’ll help you get paid on time.
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