A client told me my invoices were too confusing and now I use one simple template

I had a client back in March who was great to work with, paid on time for three months. Then he got a new accountant who sent my last invoice back marked up in red pen. Said my line items were mixed up with the tax codes and it took them an extra hour to process. I felt defensive at first, but I looked at it and they were right. I was lumping things like materials and labor together, not separating them properly. Now I use a plain template that has just three lines: description, rate, total. No more confusion. Has anyone else had to redo their invoicing after a client complaint?

3 comments

3 Comments

johnson.eva14d agoOG Member

Don't really see why YOU should have to change your whole system just because ONE client's accountant was being picky. That accountant could have just asked nicely instead of marking it up like homework.

wells.evan13d ago

Haven't you found that sometimes it's easier to just tweak a few things and move on? I had a client once where their tax guy wanted stuff formatted a specific way, so I just changed it for that one report and kept my regular system for everyone else. Not worth the headache arguing over it.

shanes6613d ago

@johnson.eva it's usually the client, not the accountant, who sets the rules though.