When I ran a SaaS company the standard language was approximately: "No worries, we're a small business too and know times can sometimes be tough. I've told the accountant to write off the X invoice in consideration of you being a good client. Best of luck and skill."
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Commentary: I don't actually have to get the accountant's approval for business decisions, and technically the interaction was "I pushed a button and it does what the accountant would expect it to do without paying him $600 an hour to examine a communication."
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And mentioning the "small business" part is not accidental, because I know you probably have a boss who has asked you to shake down all the vendors, and I expect you go back next month and say "I just wouldn't feel right doing it again."
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"What do you do if they refuse to pay next month?" Mostly they don't; they slow roll invoices and a SaaS company leisurely attempts to convert invoices to money. If they outright refuse to pay, cool, businesses gonna business. Really clear no regret decision at that point.
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Replying to @patio11
What about in consulting? I've seen things like: we can only pay half on invoices until [external thing happens], including previous invoices Say no, you're on a list of vendors they'll pay if/when they can. Say yes, you're doing more work for low rate but more likely to be paid
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Replying to @edanm
*shrug* Negotiations are negotiations. I don't think I'd agree to work at half rate. I think I could be flexible on payment terms for a favored client. I think if I routinely ran into that I'd perhaps rethink client qualification practices, deposits, etc.
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Replying to @patio11
Not always so easy. Example - I know of a company that had a contract with a large government entity. 10 developers on a year long project. After a year of payment, they stopped paying for internal reasons "that we're going to fix any minute". They were net+tons.
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I know a contractor stiffed by the feds for +$15k because the Trump appointee decided not to honor and pay out any contracts signed by Obama appointees. What are you gonna do? Sue?
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Assuming performance done? I model that invoice as "money good" and extremely unlikely to require a lawsuit to collect, and should it actually require a lawsuit to collect, I model many, many parties as being willing to factor it or otherwise take on non-payment risk for a fee.
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If it were me, and I had written refusal to pay in hand and presumably did not want to ever work for that appointee again, my next phone call would be to Constituent Services at local congresscritter's office. "Faxing you signed contract and refusal to pay. Signed, local SMB"
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That tees them up to send one letter with approximately two paragraphs of content. There is only one outcome of that letter.
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