Five ways to reduce late payments

Ask for a deposit. Thirty percent on signature filters out shaky clients and covers your first costs. A client who refuses any deposit is telling you something.

Shorten your terms. Between businesses the legal ceiling is sixty days, but nothing forces you to grant it. Thirty days net is common and perfectly acceptable.

Invoice immediately. An invoice sent three weeks after delivery signals that the money is not urgent to you either. Send it the day the work is accepted.

Make the terms visible. Due date, late-payment interest rate and the fixed forty-euro recovery indemnity belong on the invoice itself, not in an email nobody reopens.

Chase early and in writing. A polite reminder three days after the due date recovers most late payments. Keep a written trace: it is what you will rely on if the matter escalates.