Smb Invoice Chase

Invoice Chase

When to use

Use this when receivables are aging and the owner needs reminder messages that recover cash without damaging good relationships — tuned to how late each customer is and how they've paid before.

Not for: forecasting when cash will land (use smb-cash-flow) or sending anything automatically. This drafts reminders; the owner approves every one.

Method

1. Pull the aging list. List overdue invoices with customer, amount, invoice date, due date, and days overdue.
2. Read payment history. For each customer, note typical days-to-pay, prior late episodes, and lifetime value.
3. Segment by tone. Decision point: sort into gentle nudge (first reminder, usually reliable), firm follow-up (repeatedly late or well past due), and escalation candidate (severely overdue or unresponsive).
4. Draft the message. Write each reminder with the invoice number, amount, due date, a clear pay link/next step, and tone matched to the segment — warm for good customers, firmer for chronic late payers.
5. Set the cadence. Recommend when to send the next touch if unpaid.
6. Flag escalations. Identify accounts that may need a call, payment plan, or hold.

Do not send anything directly. Present drafts for the owner to review, edit, and approve — every customer-facing message and any escalation is owner-approved.

Example

Aging: 1-30 → 4 invoices ($6.2k); 31-60 → 2 ($3.1k); 60+ → 1 ($9k). Riverside Co. (INV-1043, $1,200, 12 days over) usually pays on time → gentle nudge: "Just a quick heads-up, INV-1043 slipped past due — pay link here, no worries if it's already on the way." Delta LLC ($9k, 63 days, third late episode) → firm + flag for a call and a possible payment plan.

Pitfalls

• Same tone for everyone. Dunning a reliable customer over a 5-day slip damages a good relationship.
• Missing the pay link/next step. A reminder with no clear way to pay just adds friction.
• Auto-sending. Every message and any escalation waits for owner approval.
• Ignoring history. A chronic late payer needs a firmer path (call, plan, hold), not a fourth polite nudge.

Output format

Aging summary: 1-30 <n>/$__ | 31-60 <n>/$__ | 60+ <n>/$__
Per invoice:
| Customer | Amount | Days over | Segment | History note |
Draft messages (one per invoice, ready to send on approval):
  <customer>: "<draft>"
Cadence plan: next touch timing if unpaid
Escalations flagged for owner: <account — why>

Reference

Dunning sequence by days overdue

A dunning ladder is a fixed cadence of escalating reminders. Anchor timing to the due date, and adjust the starting tone by the customer's history (reliable payers start softer, chronic-late start firmer). Owner approves every send.

Message templates

Every message names the invoice number, amount, original due date, and a one-click pay path.

• Pre-due courtesy: "Hi {name}, a quick heads-up that invoice {#} for ${amount} is due {date}. Here's the pay link — and let me know if anything looks off."
• Reminder 1 (gentle): "Hi {name}, just flagging that invoice {#} (${amount}) slipped past its {date} due date — likely an oversight. Pay link here; ignore if it's already on the way."
• Reminder 2 (clear): "Hi {name}, invoice {#} for ${amount} is now {days} days overdue. Could you settle it this week, or reply if there's a problem I can help with? Pay link."
• Reminder 3 (firm): "Hi {name}, invoice {#} (${amount}) is {days} days past due and I haven't been able to reach you. Can you confirm a payment date by {date}? Happy to arrange a short plan if cash timing is the issue."
• Final notice: "Hi {name}, invoice {#} for ${amount} is {days} days overdue. If it isn't paid or a plan agreed by {date}, we'll pause further work/orders and refer it to {collections/next step}. I'd much rather resolve this directly."

Segmentation cues

• Gentle track: first-ever slip, pays reliably (avg days-to-pay ≤ terms), high lifetime value. Protect the relationship over speed.
• Firm track: history of 2+ late episodes, or > 30 days over, or unresponsive to two touches.
• Escalation track: > 60 days, disputed and unresolved, going-out-of-business signals, or amount large enough to threaten your own runway.

Payment-plan and prevention levers

When a customer genuinely can't pay in full, a structured plan beats a stalled balance: split into 2-4 dated installments, get it in writing, and pause the dunning clock only while payments stay on schedule (resume immediately on a miss). To prevent future aging: shorten terms for chronic-late accounts (Net-15 or deposit-upfront), add late fees to terms where enforceable, offer a small early-pay discount (e.g. 2/10 Net 30 — 2% off if paid within 10 days), and require a card on file or deposit for high-risk customers.

Benchmarks worth watching

• DSO (Days Sales Outstanding) = (accounts receivable ÷ credit sales) × days in period. Healthy small-business DSO is roughly 30-45 days; trending up means collections are slipping.
• % AR over 60 days — keep under ~10-15% of total receivables.
• Collection effectiveness (collected ÷ collectible) — aim above 80%.
• Bad-debt write-off rate — under ~1-2% of revenue for most SMBs. Anything sustained above that means the terms and dunning cadence need tightening, not just more reminders.