self employed invoices

[Jack.77]

Any self employed people on here doing customer invoices?. I'm interested to know say if you had someone who is a good reliable customer who promptly pays would you give them a slight discount and maybe priority compared to those who play it out and don't pay for say 5 weeks despite no problems with the work etc ..if I know upfront they will do this then I will add on a bit for the inconvenience or just not return again .do find it particularly annoying when I give the cheaper price and knock a bit off trying to be as fair as possible thinking they will sort it asap only to find ive done it to cheap .we are mostly talking small ISH sums here mostly around few hundred or less .in certain scenarios I'm now going to ask for payment upfront

[Mr Pointy]

No, don't discount - know your own worth. Charge a reasonable sum, expect payment on time & make sure there are late payment provisions in your T&Cs.

[sinbaddio]

As above, make sure it’s in your terms regarding late payment and penalties.

I used to do a few months upfront initially until you’ve built a relationship.

[Panamax]

One good way forward is to offer a discount for customers who sign up to Direct Debit.

[Jack.77]

I usually say payment within 4 weeks is the max but often will get it under a week...
Also had it a few times before when after about 5-6 weeks eventually get payment then at the same time a message about more work expecting me to come back now they decided to actually pay .

[Simpo Two]

It's entirely up to you. You know the customers better than us so do what you think will work best.
Put your payment terms on your quote so they know before giving you the work.