How I Recovered $145K Using Just Two Emails
Welcome to Peaceful Growth, where you will learn simple tips to grow your agency to $5M without working overtime.
In this issue, you'll learn:
- How to handle non-paying clients
- Effective email strategies to recover unpaid invoices
- Key contract clauses to include for payment protection
- Actionable steps to take if the emails don’t work
- Pro tips for preventing payment issues in the future
What just happened?
It’s the worst feeling—having a great relationship with a client, almost like they’re a friend, and then suddenly... they delay paying an invoice, ignore your reminders, make empty promises, and finally, stop responding altogether.
You’re left wondering, “What just happened?”
If you’re an agency owner, chances are you’ve dealt with this before. If you haven’t (I hope you never do), you probably will at some point. Be prepared!
In 16 years of running my agency, I’ve had about six clients put us at risk of not getting paid for our hard work. Out of those, I managed to recover payment from 3 of them, totaling over $145,000. Unfortunately, the other 3 were a loss, costing us over $50,000.
Today, I’m going to share two email templates (plus a few tips) that helped me recover $145K from a few of those tricky situations.
Email #1
Subject: Can you help me here, please? Anil from Multidots
Hey John,
It has been quite a while, and I wanted to connect with you personally. I wish it were under different circumstances.
My team informed me about a few invoices (around $xx,xxx) that have been significantly delayed.
I am reaching out to you directly because this situation is putting me and my business in a very uncomfortable position. As a fellow entrepreneur and founder, I’m sure you understand how critical timely payment (and cash flow) are for the health of the business and the morale of the team, especially given the time and number of attempts my team has made in following up on these invoices.
I’ll be honest with you, we usually don’t extend the flexibility in payment terms that my team has offered you. We have been bending our processes and policies in good faith to support your business.
I hope you understand my position and respect the relationship we have built. I kindly request that you help process these outstanding invoices at your earliest convenience or at least share a plan for paying these invoices.
I would really appreciate (as founder to founder) a clear and quick communication from you specially on when (and how) are you planning to pay this invoices.