The moment an invoice goes past due, reach out. Most unpaid invoices aren’t malicious. The customer forgot, the email went to spam, or the invoice got lost in a stack of paperwork. A simple reminder often resolves it within days. Waiting weeks to follow up sends the message that payment isn’t urgent.

Start with a friendly reminder. A quick email or phone call works. Reference the invoice number, amount, and original due date. Keep the tone casual because you’re assuming it was an oversight. Something like “Just following up on invoice #1234 that was due last week. Let me know if you have any questions.” Most payments come through after this first contact.

If the first reminder doesn’t work, send a second notice after a week. This one should be more direct. Restate the amount owed and ask when you can expect payment. Attach the original invoice again so they don’t have to search for it.

After two or three weeks of no response, have a direct conversation. Ask if there’s a reason for the delay. Sometimes customers are dealing with their own cash flow problems. Offering a payment plan might be the difference between getting paid over time versus not getting paid at all. A customer paying $200 per month for three months is better than writing off $600 entirely.

At some point you need to decide whether to escalate or write it off. Small claims court works for amounts worth pursuing. Collection agencies take a percentage but handle the work. For smaller amounts or customers you’ll never work with again, it might make more sense to record the bad debt and move on.

In your books, unpaid invoices need to be handled correctly. The income was recorded when you invoiced, so a write-off doesn’t erase that. You record a bad debt expense, which offsets the revenue. This keeps your financial statements accurate and documents the loss for tax purposes.

The better approach is catching problems before they become serious. Running an aging report weekly shows which invoices are 30, 60, or 90 days past due. Patterns emerge. You might notice certain customers always pay late or that invoices without a specific due date sit unpaid longer. Customer invoicing done right includes follow-up as part of the process, not an afterthought.

Prevention starts before the invoice even goes out. Clear payment terms stated upfront, invoices sent promptly while the work is fresh in the customer’s mind, and easy payment options all reduce collection problems. A bookkeeping service that stays on top of receivables catches aging invoices early, before a 30-day delay becomes a 90-day problem.

The goal is getting paid without damaging relationships you want to keep. Most customers respond to consistent, professional follow-up. The ones who don’t were probably never going to pay regardless of what you did.