You Made the Sale. Your Customer Made You a Lender.

Written by James Sanders

There is a fine line between running a business and operating an interest-free lending institution. Sometimes, that line is an invoice marked “Just following up again.” You landed the customer. Your team did the work. The customer seemed happy. Everyone celebrated—except your bank account, which is still waiting to participate. Revenue looks nice on a report. Cash pays the bills.

Getting paid starts long before an invoice becomes overdue. It begins with how the business prices its work, documents the deal, sets expectations, and responds when the customer asks for “just one more thing.” It also means recognizing when a valuable customer is becoming an expensive habit.

Over the coming weeks, we will look at practical ways to protect the money your business works hard to earn:

• Set payment expectations early. Are deposits, payment milestones, and due dates clear before the work begins?
• Keep extra work from becoming free work. Who approves changes, documents the added cost, and gets the customer’s agreement?
• Stop financing slow-paying customers. When should the business tighten credit terms, require advance payment, or consider pausing additional work?
• Protect margins when costs change. Does your pricing—and your contract—give you room to respond?
• Address disputes before they become collection problems. What should happen when a customer questions an invoice, delays payment, or suddenly becomes impossible to reach?
• Avoid putting all your cash flow in one customer’s hands. What happens if your biggest customer becomes your slowest payer?

The goal is not to treat every customer like a future defendant. It is to establish clear expectations, recognize warning signs, and keep payment problems from growing quietly while everyone focuses on the next sale.  Because “we’re really busy” and “we’re making money” are not necessarily the same thing.  And your accounts receivable report should not read like a list of charitable contributions.