Trade office
Unpaid invoices: check incoming payments before sending a reminder
An overdue entry does not automatically mean a customer refuses to pay. An attachment may be missing, or payment may have arrived with another reference. A short review before each reminder prevents avoidable irritation and reveals what actually needs resolving.
Read status alongside recent activity
Check invoice number, recipient, due date and recorded sending. Then compare payments with the outstanding amount. A different reference may need manual allocation. For part-payments, the remaining balance must be understandable. Also mark whether the customer raised a question about the work: that case needs an answer, not simply another standard message.
Give the next action an owner
Once a week, sort outstanding cases by next step: allocate payment, supply an attachment, answer a question or prepare a reminder. Give each line an owner and date. Difficult cases then stay visible among automatically generated reminders. Keep one shared note so that two colleagues do not chase the same customer independently.
Separate a practical reminder from legal decisions
A useful reminder identifies the invoice, original amount, payments already counted and a contact route for questions. Whether legal default exists and which fees or further action are permitted are separate legal questions. Do not infer them from a red software label alone. Record the reply and next date against the case so follow-up does not disappear into a private mailbox.
Your business checklist
- Reconcile sending, amounts and actual incoming payments.
- Flag part-payments and customer questions separately.
- Assign the next action to a person and date.
- Do not infer legal consequences from software status.