So, for the benefit of everyone reading this: Not urgently needing the money, and not communicating that one urgently needs the money, is one way to avoid having this happen to you.
For your benefit:
a) Asking for partial payment sends a bunch of signals regarding your level of professionalism and need to see this check. Those signals are not helpful in getting you paid in a timely fashion.
b) Two weeks late is practically on time for a lot of clients. Many are just structurally incapable of getting checks cut that fast. Yes, insane, but also true.
c) I'm uncertain of the status of the project and your ongoing relationship with the client. Please note that escalating to lawyers is not in general something which improves client relations, if you wish to get more work from them in the future or if you have an ongoing work relationship for e.g. future milestones.
d) Prior to escalating to a lawyer, write them a short letter yourself and FedEx or courier it to their office. Pay the extra for signature confirmation of receipt. Contents could be similar to:
Dear $DECISIONMAKER:
I invoiced you ($IDENTIFYING_INFORMATION) for $AMOUNT on $PROJECT on $DATE, but to date have not been paid. Last week I spoke to $NAME and $NAME, who promised to handle this issue, but it remains unresolved.
The invoice is due immediately. I would prefer that we resolve this amicably without having to bring lawyers into it. If you have any questions, please call me at $CONTACT_INFO.
"Asking for partial payment sends a bunch of signals regarding your level of professionalism and need to see this check. Those signals are not helpful in getting you paid in a timely fashion."
Out of curiosity, do you think this also applies to asking for a downpayment for large contracts? Because the same logic seems to apply, but I usually see asking for downpayments talked about in a very positive light.
Asking for a down payment is a test of seriousness and someone's ability to pay the actual, real, full price. It is also an utterly normal business practice. Asking for partial payment because you are broke tells people you are broke. This gives people information about both your business acumen and negotiating position, not information that will redound to your advantage.
I expect milestone payments based on deliverables if the project is fixed bid.
My schedule for invoicing is usually
1) retainer at start of project
2 & 3) milestones 1 and 2, which can be "tech design approval" and "dev complete" or whatever
4) launch or end-of-warranty closeout.
As more of our projects are integration of our software with client systems, 2 and 3 are usually agreement on integration design and entry into integration testing.
I've reduced fixed bid work due to some challenging client circumstances that drove too many change orders (I like about one per week) and have focused more on T&M with a not-to-exceed.
Thanks. It's extremely difficult not to come off sounding desperate when in fact my situation could hardly be worse at the moment (short of being physically evicted from my apartment, or in jail).
But if the situation does not improve soon I'll definitely take your advice into account.
For your benefit:
a) Asking for partial payment sends a bunch of signals regarding your level of professionalism and need to see this check. Those signals are not helpful in getting you paid in a timely fashion.
b) Two weeks late is practically on time for a lot of clients. Many are just structurally incapable of getting checks cut that fast. Yes, insane, but also true.
c) I'm uncertain of the status of the project and your ongoing relationship with the client. Please note that escalating to lawyers is not in general something which improves client relations, if you wish to get more work from them in the future or if you have an ongoing work relationship for e.g. future milestones.
d) Prior to escalating to a lawyer, write them a short letter yourself and FedEx or courier it to their office. Pay the extra for signature confirmation of receipt. Contents could be similar to:
Dear $DECISIONMAKER:
I invoiced you ($IDENTIFYING_INFORMATION) for $AMOUNT on $PROJECT on $DATE, but to date have not been paid. Last week I spoke to $NAME and $NAME, who promised to handle this issue, but it remains unresolved.
The invoice is due immediately. I would prefer that we resolve this amicably without having to bring lawyers into it. If you have any questions, please call me at $CONTACT_INFO.
Regards,
$YOU