4 Responses

1. Never
   No, I never ask for payment up front.
   Most of my clients wouldn’t accept it as the work has not been completed at that point.
   The issue for freelancers is always delays by the client in paying, the way to get around that is to put in clauses that you’ll invoice in chunks or weekly etc. This ensures your cash flow continues and that the client never falls too far behind in payments.

2. Up front payment
   Hi Kerry,

   I used to ask for 50% up front payable once a date had been booked by the client.

   This had several advantages:

   1. Commitment to action – the client was less likely to draw out the process and suddenly have a budget cut etc.

   2. Cash flow – the obvious one. If the client had to cancel I offered to use the money paid on a future event – an incentive to come back and complete the assignment with me and so not lose their money

   3. At this point if there were any hidden objections they soon came out and could be dealt with. Time wasters were also revealed leaving more of my time to spend with more serious clients.

   Good luck.

   Nick

3. Companies often expect to pay a deposit up front!
   In my experience, companies are happy to pay a deposit up front – and I’ve even heard it said that those same companies would question your professionalism if you don’t make this one of your “rules of business”.

   However, it is not the case with individuals, who do expect to “receive” the work first before payment.

   I also find that it helps to be able to take credit cards, that way, you can stagger payments which means that everyone (as Juliet suggested) is happy!

4. upfront payment
   I’ve offered a proposal in The Netherlands(value of euro 49.000 excl. VAT) that was excepted with T&C: payment before starting the kick off, followed by 2x2days and 2x1days trainingsessions. The days were facilitated by two (senior) changemanager. Best regards, Ben