Getting paid faster: due dates, early-payment discounts and systematic reminders
Weeks often pass between sending the invoice and seeing the money — needlessly. How clear due dates, discounts, progress payments and friendly consistency protect your liquidity.
by Patrick Jerominek · Last reviewed: July 7, 2026
Few things wear a business down like open invoices: the material is paid, wages are out, only the customer's money keeps you waiting. The uncomfortable truth: part of the late payments is home-made — unclear invoices, no concrete deadline, no reminder. That's exactly where the solution lies.
01Why do customers pay late — and what helps?
Customers rarely pay late out of malice — they pay first the invoices that are clear, carry a due date and get reminded. Payment behaviour is therefore shapeable: with the invoicing process under control, the time to payment often shortens by weeks without a single harsh word.
02When and how should you issue the invoice?
Immediately after the work, with a concrete date: every day you wait with the invoice, the customer waits too. Write a concrete due date instead of 'payable within 14 days' — a date can't be overlooked. And attach the proof of work: what explains itself doesn't get questioned.
03Is a prompt-payment discount worth it?
Yes, if it's priced in: two to three percent discount for payment within seven days works wonders — many customers pay at once to take it. Calculate the discount into your price beforehand and you give nothing away. Then compare the cost against what dunning runs and an overdrawn account cost you.
04When do progress invoices make sense?
On every longer project: the payment plan belongs in the quote — roughly a third on order, a third on material delivery, the rest after acceptance. Progress and partial invoices as well as instalment plans are built into DasHandwerk.xhub — you no longer pre-finance the site alone.
05How do you send reminders with a system?
With a fixed routine instead of a knot in the stomach: a friendly reminder a few days after the due date, a second one with a deadline two weeks later — ready-made texts come with our free follow-up e-mail templates in the templates area. In DasHandwerk.xhub you see open items at a glance, bank reconciliation detects incoming payments, and the dunning letter goes out with a click when needed.
The short version
Invoice immediately, put a concrete due date on it, price in the discount, agree progress payments on projects and remind with a fixed routine. Liquidity is not created at the debt collector but in your process — each of these levers costs minutes and gains days.
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