Brief Summary
This video addresses the frustrating situation of clients not paying for voiceover work and offers advice on how to handle reluctant payers. It emphasizes the importance of clear communication, setting specific payment dates, and maintaining a friendly yet firm approach. The video also touches on the option of small claims court as a last resort and the significance of offering flexible payment options.
- Send clear invoices with specific payment terms.
- Follow up with reminders, including specific payment dates.
- Consider offering installment payments.
- Maintain a friendly but firm approach.
- View legal proceedings as a last resort.
The video begins by recounting a voiceover student's experience of not being paid for work completed to a high standard, despite the client's initial satisfaction. The problem is that 90 days have passed without payment. The coach addresses the common frustration among voiceover artists when clients fail to honor their payment agreements. The video aims to provide actionable advice on how to encourage payment from reluctant clients while preserving the possibility of future collaborations.
The first step in ensuring timely payment is to provide the client with a clear invoice that specifies how and when payment should be made. After 30 days of non-payment, send an email to the contact at the production company, reminding them that payment must be made by a specific date. If payment is still not received, send a final reminder that includes another specific payment date.
If reminders are ignored, inform the client that you may have to undertake county court proceedings in the small claims court. Legal proceedings should be a last resort. The court will want to see that the client was given ample opportunity to pay and offered options like installment payments.
Clarity is essential. Be upfront about payment expectations from the outset. If payment is delayed, send gentle reminders, referencing the original payment terms. When communicating overdue payments, provide specific dates by which payment is expected. While it's important to be firm, avoid threatening the client, as this could be counterproductive. Be understanding of any difficulties the client may be experiencing and consider offering installment payment options.
Always specify how you want the client to make the payment, whether it's via bank transfer, PayPal, or another method. Being clear about your expectations and maintaining consistent communication will remind the client of their obligation and increase the likelihood of timely payment.
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Transcript
Full transcript of “What To Do if a Client Doesn't Pay You”. Click a timestamp to open the video at that moment. Need another video? Use the YouTube transcript generator.
0:00 i had one of my voiceover students contact me the other day and said that she'd done some work for a company and they've been very happy with it and they'd agreed a price she completed the work on time all gone swimmingly well and then she waited waited to be paid waited a couple of weeks no payment she thought well fair enough it's only been two weeks a month went by still nothing then another month still no payment and then 90 days had elapsed and still no no payment from the client and she was saying to me is there something she could do to kind of jolt the the client into
0:46 paying just nudge them in a nice way without necessarily hacking them off because she may want to work with them again in the future but at the same time get that money through because after all she'd done the work to a high standard and they hadn't kept their side of the bargain she hadn't been paid and um it's really annoying and frustrating when that happens and it happens to all of us at some point so there are some things i think you can do and and this is the advice i'd give to you if you've got a a reluctant payer and here's how to kind of nudge them along in a nice way but also a firm way firstly it's always important to send your client an invoice and say how and
1:32 when payment has to be made you've got to be really clear on that and then if you've still not received the payment after 30 days then your next step is to send an email to your contact at the production company and say that payment has to be made by a specific date make sure you put that date down so everyone knows what it is and if still no payment send a final reminder with another specific payment date it is these specific dates that are really important and then mention you will have no option but to undertake county court proceedings in the small claims court so this is if you've still not been paid and bear in mind legal proceedings are a very last resort and the court will need
2:18 to see that you've given your client plenty of time to pay and offered options such as installment payments so i think the key takeaway to this is clarity you've got to be really clear when you want to be paid so don't leave it up to the client help them along and say when you first issue that invoice i want to be paid within 30 days please and then if they haven't paid a nice gentle reminder saying oh you've probably forgotten but you know it's now beyond the 30 days and then start mentioning specific dates when you want to be paid so i need to be paid by and then maybe a week two weeks and then if that hasn't happened you could issue another one and and say it really needs to be paid by the blah blah blah 30th of april or whatever
3:04 and if not then you can mention the small claims court now it's important not to threaten your client because that could go against you you've got to be friendly at all times but you've also got to be understanding of the client so if they're having trouble in paying then you can offer an installment payment and always say how you want the client to pay some people completely forget and just expect the client to know sometimes the client themselves may say okay we do a bank transfer or we use paypal or whatever but you can take the lead on that i think that's important at the end of the day it's about being really clear about what you want and having those staging posts as you go along so the client is then reminded
3:53 that actually they owe you some money so good luck with that i hope you get paid on time thanks very much for watching today look after your voice and see you next time [Music] you
