What to include on my invoice?

Your invoice is key to getting paid promptly & keeping an ongoing relationship with your clients. Even simple things can make a huge difference, whilst there are things you must include on your invoice, there are other things you can do that will make a difference

Heading – make it clear it’s an invoice, even if it is doubling up as a delivery note.

Size - it is unlikely to be the only invoice being dealt with, and a small scrap of paper is easily lost, whist a large cumbersome invoice, whilst getting attention is likely to irritate whoever has to fold/unfold and carefully file it, quite often this will be the same person who pays it, it will pay you to keep them happy!

Colour - It will certainly get noticed – just make sure it is still easy to read, yellow text on white is unlikely to work, and if the invoice can`t be read, it’s not going to get paid

How to pay - So you invoice Company X for your hard work, they appreciate it, they want to pay you – make it easy for them! Offer them a few ways to pay, bacs, card, cheque, cash (include who to make payment to) and give an email address for a remittance to be sent to, especially if you sell multiple products to multiple people for the same price.

Numbering- put a reference on your invoice, it can be numeric, or an abbreviation of the customer name/date of supply/products, the important thing is that it is unique, even if you don’t think you need an invoice number, it will come in handy if you need to contact your customer – I have a query about invoice 12/789 sounds so much more professional than “I sent you an invoice sometime in July”. If you are VAT registered invoices must be sequential.

Say thank you to your client – a quick email or hand written note attached to an invoice can make you stand out from the crowd, I see hundreds of invoices every month, and the ones that stand out have that personal touch, from a handwritten note to a pack of Haribo