Hey there, Reader,

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Welcome to the September 2023 issue of Becoming Legalese Literate.

This month I want to talk to you about getting paid. And specifically, I want to talk to you about how to get paid when you land those bigger clients. You know the ones I mean. The corporate ones that pay you 5-figure or maybe even 6-figure payments.
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Yeah, those people.
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Figuring out how to get paid by corporations with deep enough pockets to spend good money on your services is tricky. On the one hand, adding just one of those clients to your business can be the difference between financial stability for the year and financial panic. But on the other hand, the process of getting paid by these clients can truly make you want to tear your hair out.
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I know because I used to pitch and provide services to these clients all the time when I still ran my corporate wellbeing company. And every now and then, I still do pitch them for workshops or writing services.

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And guess what? Even I’ve felt dumbfounded by their complicated vendor onboarding processes and frustrated (read: pissed off) about how long it takes them to pay me that delicious and oh-so-sweet big fat check that I’ve been craving like my life depends on it.

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So without further ado, here are some tips and tools I’ve developed and successfully utilized with my customers for negotiating service contracts and getting paid by large corporations.
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Rule #1: Find out how long it takes to get paid as early as possible in the pitching/negotiation process.

And by as early as possible, I mean during the discovery call when you’re asking your potential client questions. Make sure you ask them how long it takes their company to pay an invoice. If they don’t know off the top of their head, ask them to find out the exact number of days and follow up with you.

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Not sure how to bring it up? Here’s an example:

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In your discovery call, go over how you work: explain your process, your timelines, and your billing practices. When you mention your billing practice, state that your invoices are due in 30 days (or however many days you make them due after receipt). Then ask your potential client if that payment timeline is something their company can abide by or whether their company has its own policy for how long it takes them to pay invoices.

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Why is this information important?

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Well first, it will tell you how you need to price your services. If it takes a company a long time to pay you (more than 30 days), you should charge more. If you’re going to wait that long to be paid, you might as well make it worth it! Like the equivalent of a minimum of 3 months and up to a year’s worth of pay worth it.
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I personally don’t like to provide pricing for my services until I know how long it will take them to pay me.

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The other reasons you need this information are spelled out in rules 2 and 3 below.

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Rule #2: Ask if there is a vendor onboarding process and if there is, request to start it as soon as possible.

Okay, so this is related to Rule #1. It takes larger companies a long time to pay invoices, but it can also take a long time for them to get you onboarded to their system so they can pay you.
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And guess what? The clock doesn’t start clicking on payment until you’re entered as a vendor in their system.

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Here’s what this usually looks like: You reach a deal with your buyer and they say to send the first invoice. You send the invoice and they forward it to their purchasing/procurement person. Then the purchasing person sends you a link to a vendor onboarding system where you have to enter lots of information about your business, fill out a new scope of work even though you already created one, and read through and negotiate a usually oppressive contract.

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Sweet (not).
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This all takes time. And the longer it takes, the more delayed your payment is. So start this process ASAP.

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Rule #3: Once you know how long it takes to get paid, structure your payment schedule to get paid overtime by tying payment amounts to project milestones if you have them.

There’s nothing like the high of booking a major contract that sets your business up for a few months of financial stability unless it's followed by the low that is the realization that said financial stability may not actually hit your bank account for 2 to 3 months.
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That’s why I like to create payment schedules with my larger corporate clients. I usually ask for 30% down and delay starting work until that amount is paid. Sometimes I accept the 30% down payment via credit card to expedite the process (and charge more to cover the credit card fees. See?! This is why rule #1 is so important because it informs your strategy).

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Then I create project milestones and assign a $$ amount to each milestone, whether it’s the draft of an article or a workshop. Every deliverable I create has a dollar value. When I deliver it, I send the company an invoice for that amount so that I’m receiving payment over time as I work instead of doing all my work upfront and then waiting to receive a payout 2 months after I finish my part of the contract.

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This practice will help you create some consistent cash flow in your business and it also helps break down big projects into manageable, bite-size pieces. I frequently help people with this particular step in my flat-rate contract review service. If you need help with it too, you can submit a request here.

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Rule #4: Be extremely polite, patient, and cordial to your purchasing/procurement person. If you can’t get payment or payment is late, they are the person you’ll go to to figure out the problem. Stay on their good side.

I know this first hand. One time, a certain tech company was late paying a $60,000 invoice to our company that we needed to meet payroll. My customer/buyer had no idea how to track down the issue and I forgot the name of the procurement person I worked with and hadn’t saved their contact information. So that left me at the mercy of my customer. I had to depend on her to track down the issue and I had to figure out how to strike the balance between nagging her about payment and maintaining a good relationship for future business.

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This sucked and I do not recommend it.
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In another situation when payment was late, I had the purchasing person’s info and reached out to them immediately. They remembered me (because I had been polite to the point of ass-kissing, and yes, I am totally fine with that). They solved the problem in 2 hours and payment was issued the next day.
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In that other situation, it took 5 days to track down the issue and we had to wait another 10 for payment to come through, which was brutal. Please learn from me, friend. Be best friends with your purchasing rep.

Okay, so those are my tips and tools for getting paid. What am I missing? What are your strategies for getting paid faster by large companies?
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If you need help negotiating a contract or setting up a payment schedule for a large corporate client, feel free to submit an inquiry and we’ll map it out together.

See you in October!
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Wishing you good health and prosperity,

Brionna
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P.s. Got a topic/question you want me to cover in this newsletter? Submit it here.

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