LeaRae Keyes, RN

I recently spoke with a couple of nurse entrepreneurs and one of their primary questions was about getting their invoices paid after they had been sent out. Talking about money and collecting on overdue invoices are tasks that most nurse entrepreneur hate. Does this sound like you? Here are a few steps you can take to decrease your chances of having to collect on overdue invoices.

Print out your invoices on a different color paper. You can still keep the look very professional, but make them look different from everything else on your customer's desk. Even though computers were going to create a paperless work flow, it hasn't happened in my office and it hasn't happened in the office of most of your customers. Make it easy for your invoices to get noticed by printing them on a different color paper so they can easily be found amongst all the other paper.

Where you place your invoice can also make a big difference in getting paid promptly. If you put your invoice on the top of your work product it will be noticed as soon as your customer looks at your work product. If it is on the bottom, it could get overlooked and even filed away. Some nurses tell me that they don't want to put their invoices on the top because they want the focus to be on the work product and not on the money. Well, I can tell you that it is certainly going to be about the money when you have to make those collection calls and that will be much more uncomfortable than simply putting your invoice on the top of your work product.

Have a due date on your invoices. If there is no date on which payment is due your customer will feel no particular need to pay your invoice promptly. Make your due date reasonable but not too far into the future.

Once 30 days has passed re-invoice your customer. Your re-invoice should be the only thing in this mailing so that it gets noticed. Again, it should be on a different color paper. Be polite and don't add any additional fees at this point. Your customers are busy professionals and they are dealing with volumes of paper. This will bring your invoice(s) to their attention and remind them that 30 days have passed and you have not been paid.

Overdue invoices can often be an oversight especially if you haven't made sure that your invoices stand out from the volume of paper that passes over your customer's desk. Sending a reminder invoice is simple and painless. If this doesn't work then it is time to take a more direct approach. For more information read the article "Collections Made Easy" on the Nurse Entrepreneur website.

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