Top 10 Invoicing Best Practices to Improve Cash Flow

Keep it simple

The top invoicing best practice to keep in mind is that simplicity is key. Your invoices must be clear, concise, and easy to read and understand.

Your client should be able to find the information they need with a quick glance at your invoice, including the total amount owed and the due date.

It should also include line items that make it clear what work was done and to break down all costs of the job.

If possible, keep your invoice to one page. If you’re invoicing a large job and it takes up multiple pages, provide a summary on the first page and list the details in the pages that follow. 

Not only is a simple invoice convenient for your customer, but it’s also easier for your staff to process and find.

Personalize your invoice

While your invoice should be simple, you also want to ensure it’s professional. Personalizing your invoices with your brand is one of the most important best practices to follow.

There are many downloadable invoice templates that can simplify your invoicing and cut down on data entry, but you want to be sure to add your branding to them.

By adding the name of your business, your logo, and your contact information, you’ll not only present a more professional-looking invoice, but you’ll also make your invoices easily identifiable for your customer, which increases the odds that they will remember to pay it when they see it.

Pro Tip: Add a short ‘thank you’ note at the end of your invoice to really give it a personal touch!

Send invoices promptly

If there’s one thing you do not want to delay in your business workflow, it’s sending invoices. 

Whether you invoice before or after the job, always promptly send your client their invoice.

The sooner you send an invoice, the sooner you get paid. The longer you take to send an invoice, the more likely your client will forget about it or put off paying it.

With Jobber, you can generate invoices instantly once the job is done and send them by text or email. This makes it possible for your techs to collect payment and provide a receipt before they even leave the job site.

Set clear payment terms

Your payment terms set clear expectations between you and your customers about when and how payments should be made.

At a minimum, payment terms should include:

• Invoice due date
• Payment method
• Late fees

When your client knows when they have to pay and the potential penalties for late payments, they are more likely to pay their invoice on time.

You can even set expectations early by also including your payment terms in your quotes. Having a discussion before the job starts avoids any misunderstandings when it comes to invoice processing.

Use unique invoice numbers

Using unique invoice numbers is an invoicing best practice that makes invoice management much easier. 

Assigning a unique number to each invoice reduces errors, enhances professionalism, and improves overall organization.

For example, if one of your regular clients calls with questions about their invoice, you can quickly pull it up using the invoice number and answer their question right away.

Keep records to support your invoice

As a home service business owner, you know that no matter how accurate you make your invoices, you’ll occasionally get customers questioning their bills.

Maintaining organized records allows you to provide information to back up your invoices and answer your client’s questions.

For example, Jobber’s time tracking capabilities allow your field team to clock in by starting a timer and clock out when they finish the job. It then updates the job and employee’s timesheet.

Follow up (before the invoice is overdue)

Late and outstanding invoices are one of the top causes of cash flow problems. That’s why following up is one of the best invoicing process best practices to add to your workflow.

It’s important to follow up in a timely manner. You don’t want to wait until the payment is overdue for your first follow-up—if the payment due date is approaching, you should send a reminder email as a little nudge.

Use Jobber to automatically send customized email or text reminders to customers, reminding them to pay their outstanding invoice. If they pay the invoice immediately, you’ve saved yourself time and an awkward phone call.

Once the payment becomes overdue, get in touch with your client immediately. Be polite, but direct. Provide them once more all of the relevant invoice information, including the date of service, payment due date, and the amount owed.

READ MORE: How to prevent overdue invoices

Make it easy for customers to pay 

Providing multiple payment options gives your client less of a reason for untimely payments.

Jobber’s credit card processing provides convenient payment options for both you and your client. Your customer can visit their client hub to view accepted payment methods and add their card details to pay their invoice. 

Review your invoicing process regularly

Things change, especially as your business grows. Invoicing best practices for your industry may also change. 

It’s important to review your invoicing process regularly to ensure that it continues to satisfy your business needs. For example, you may need to change what you include in your invoice as your business offers more products or services.

If you begin to notice more late payments than usual, you might also want to revisit your invoice management to identify patterns and address issues. 
Reviewing your invoicing process is also a good idea if you want to start using or switch invoicing software solutions.

Automate your process with invoicing software

The more your business grows, the less efficient manual invoicing becomes—it becomes tedious, time-consuming, and leaves room for error. The solution is streamlining your invoicing through automation, which is one of the top invoicing best practices to follow.

Automating your workflows allows you to spend less time invoicing and more time delivering quality customer service. 

Using invoicing software like Jobber to write an invoice cuts down on manual data entry, reduces errors, and improves organization—a perfect recipe for faster payments and better cash flow.

Jobber enhances every aspect of your invoicing to help you get paid on time, every time. You can use Jobber to automatically generate a branded invoice with job details and payment terms in just two clicks, which you can send to customers through text or email. 

Then, get paid just as fast with automated payments. Jobber automatically charges client cards saved on file, which is perfect for recurring invoices.

Jobber also provides the option for batch invoicing. Whether you’ve fallen behind on work or prefer to send all of your invoices at once, batch invoicing can help. Simply select the jobs you’d like to create invoices for, and send them to customers with a couple of clicks.

Jobber also allows you to:

• See the status of all of your invoices at a glance 
• Send automated emails and texts to follow up
• Get access to funds seconds after you get paid with instant payouts
• Automatically sync your invoices and payments to QuickBooks Online

With these invoicing best practices in your toolkit, you’re well on your way to turning invoice processing into a smooth, efficient, and enjoyable part of running your business.