Seeking tips on getting paid on time

Hi folks,

Our company, Intuit, recently surveyed 751 owners of businesses with fewer than 10 employees. Nearly 42 percent of the respondents said that getting paid on time was a top concern, and a third reported seeing more overdue or uncollected debts over the last year, averaging about $1,500 a month.

Attached is an article from the New York times featuring several small business owners and their methods of collecting payments. Some ideas:

1. Allow your clients to pay by credit card. Although the fees you pay to the credit card company reduces your profits, it's better than not getting paid at all. This also gives your clients an additional 30 days to pay.

2. Get creative - Can you offer clients a payment plan? Can you reduce what they owe you, if they send new business your way?

Here's the article with more tips:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11...

What are you doing to ensure you collect payments?