Individuals. Most businesses base their payment policies on assessment of risk. Assessing the risk you take with a client usually is a matter of simple common sense. If an individual contacts you through your web site and asks you to narrate a wedding video or tribute to a deceased relative, then probably it would be wise to request payment up front before delivering the voice over.

 

If the individual balks at paying up front, then you can agree to voice the script, play the voice-over down the phone line to prove you did it, get paid, and then deliver the voice-over.

 

Ad Agencies & Production Houses. Working with these companies usually means giving up a little control of payment terms. You can request payment up front, but most ad agencies and production houses expect to be invoiced.

 

You can put “due on receipt” on the invoice, but that is often interpreted as “30 days net.”

 

Some excellent ad agencies and production houses pay promptly, but very often you will have to wait 30 days or more for payment. In fact, many smaller ad agencies and production houses have adopted a policy of not paying you until they get paid. In the ad biz, this means you can wait a long time for payment.

 

(On a personal note, after waiting a year for payment from a small agency for a VO I’d done for a local electronics and appliance retailer, I finally reached an agreement to accept a color television in lieu of cash. A couple of months later, the retailer went out of business, a victim of serious negative cash flow! Did the ad agency ever get paid? Good question.)

 

Mid-Sized & Large Companies. Doing voice work directly for these firms usually means having to bill on a 30-day net basis. This means, in essence, that you end up offering 30 days credit interest-free.

The good thing is that the risk of not getting paid is usually low. Will some companies push payment out 60 days and even further? Yes, but again, you’ll eventually get paid.

PAYMENT OPTIONS

Now let’s review individual types of clients and your payment options.

 

For individuals, request immediate payment. As described above, play the completed voice-over on the phone to prove it was done and then ask for payment. Once payment is made, deliver the voice-over.

 

For direct work with larger companies, ad agencies and production houses, request immediate payment upon receipt of invoice. If they say their policy is 30 days, try for 15. For long-form voice-overs involving many pages and a large talent fee, try requesting 50 percent up front and 50 percent upon delivery of the project

 

Everything is negotiable. You can even barter for part of your fee. Remember how I received a TV in lieu of cash? Of course, keep track of your receivables (what’s owed you). When a client does not pay by the due date, send a statement.

Make a polite but firm phone call requesting payment. Be proactive. Most people pay their bills. But for many clients your invoice will not be top of the pile, so to speak.

PayPal. This is a very popular site for collecting or sending payments. Just visit www.paypal.com and sign up.

 

With PayPal, clients can pay by credit card or through electronic transfer from a checking account. You’ll receive an email telling you when the transfer of funds has occurred. This is perfect for collecting up-front payment. As soon as you receive the email, you can deliver the voice-over.

 

Also, www.worldpay.com and www.verisign.com are two additional online payment processors you can check out.

Credit cards. You’ll have to open a merchant account in order to accept them. They will charge a fee to open the account, plus a monthly fee, a fee for each transaction, and a percentage of each sale.

 

Do an online search for credit card merchant accounts and compare costs and services to get the best deal.

 

Direct wire transfer. Set up a checking account used exclusively for wire transfers. You supply the client with your checking account number and your bank’s routing number. Then the client transfers funds directly from his account to yours.

 

It works well and can cost virtually nothing, depending on the deal you get from your bank for this service.

 

For instance, one of my TV imaging clients pays by wire transfer. I email an invoice from my QuickBooks program, and the money is usually in my account the next day!

 

With a payment policy in place, you’ll gain greater control over how and when you get paid. Hey, it might be a really fun business, but it’s no fun not getting paid. Happy collecting!

 

 

Web: www.peterdrewvo.com