Getting Paid
We can do this the easy way or the hard way…
Every high-volume wedding entrepreneur faces three big challenges when managing your couples and clients: How to communicate, get paid, and coordinate multiple schedules effectively. I covered the first one a little on instagram last week, but let’s talk about the most important one: Getting paid.
I’m not talking about making money, because you’ve already there. I’m talking about actually getting paid. The mechanics of it. How to get from the hand shake to the $KaChing! in the fastest way possible. As much as you love what you do, the point of having a business is getting paid to do it. A lot of high-volume wedding vendors are surprised that this is a problem. A lot of them are also surprised when it becomes their problem. A rental company that let $2000 in rentals get delivered and returned without a final payment. A photographer who shot the photos and delivered the prints, but forgot to send the invoice for either. A florist. A bakery. Thousands and thousands of dollars and hours and hours of labor unpaid. I’ve seen it happen tons of time since I started ECC.
It is a universal truth that the busier you are in your business, the easier it is to let the basics slide. But getting paid is a basic you can’t let slide. This madness must end, and if this has ever been an issue, you can fix it now:
Make it your standard operating procedure. You’re not officially booked until you get a deposit. You don’t show up unless you get your final payment. No exceptions. Put it your contract. Put a reminder in your calendar the night before, Burn it in your brain. DO IT. Every client, every time.
Take it one step further and ask yourself: “How can I automate, delegate, or eliminate this out of my way?” Taking a credit card over the phone is great, but what about the next payment, and the next one after that? And, again, you’re the one that has to do it, and you don’t have time for that. Automation is the best place to start, because it checks all the boxes. If you’re interested in that, Honeybook, for example, automates your invoicing, delegating that process off your plate, and eliminating the time you would have to spend on it, including remembering to follow up. You can also use automation, elimination and delegation in several different ways across the “business”part of your business, to save time as your calendar expands - sign up to receive my free tip sheet, 10 Tips For Saving 20 Hours a Week In Your High-Volume Wedding Business to find out how.
Have a great weekend and I’ll talk to you soon,
Elizabeth
