Hit $4,200 in overdue invoices cleared in one day and it shocked me

I had a client who owed me $4,200 for 6 months after a big landscaping job in Austin. I tried everything from nagging emails to late fees, but finally sat down with them face to face and offered a 10% discount if they paid that day. Has anyone else found that a small break on price actually gets people to pay faster than threats?

4 comments

4 Comments

rowanw911mo ago

Oh PLEASE. You just taught them that dragging their feet for 6 months saves them money. Now every single client is going to wait you out for that 10% discount.

-1

kai_ramirez381mo agoMost Upvoted

Yeah, cause nobody's ever heard of waiting for a deal before.

zarat371mo ago

Take a breath, it's retail, not a hostage situation. You gave a discount once, which is fine if you didn't want to starve waiting for that sale. But acting like you accidentally taught your clients advanced negotiation tactics is a bit dramatic. They were probably going to wait anyway because people like to feel like they got one over on the seller. You could have just said "price is firm" on day one and moved on, instead of spending 8 months in a weird standoff.

ward.diana1mo ago

Ugh YES, thank you! I had a client who literally waited 8 full months for me to cave on a price. I kept sending follow-ups, they kept saying "we're still thinking about it." Finally I cracked and gave them 12% off just to close the dang thing. And guess what? Next month their friend called me and said "yeah so-and-so told me you'll drop the price if we just wait long enough." So now I feel like I'm training people to be patient instead of just buying from me. Its such a vicious cycle once you give in once.