Who should an agency send invoices to?

The person or address that processes payments, often an accounts payable mailbox, with your client contact copied. Ask for it at onboarding and put it in the statement of work.

How do agencies avoid late payment on the final project invoice?

Invoice milestones the day they are signed off rather than at the end, and agree the PO number and payment run timing up front. The last invoice is the slowest because the client's attention has moved on.

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Invoice follow-up for agencies: getting retainers and project fees paid

Your client contact loves the work. Their accounts payable team has never heard of you. Most agency late payment lives in that gap.

CollectlySeptember 30, 20265 min read

Agencies are rarely paid late because a client does not want to pay. They are paid late because the invoice is waiting for a purchase order, for an approver who is not the person you work with, or for a payment run that happens twice a month. Following up well means finding out which of those it is, early, and sending the next email to whoever can actually move it.

Set it up at onboarding

Get the accounts payable contact and invoicing address in the statement of work, not after the first invoice bounces.
Ask whether invoices need a PO number, and who raises it. A missing PO is the single most common reason an agency invoice sits unpaid.
Find out when their payment runs happen. An invoice approved a day after a run waits two weeks for the next one.

Retainers vs project invoices

Retainers are predictable, so make them boring: same date, same amount, same recipient every month, with the PO reference carried over. Project and milestone invoices are where delays build up, especially the last one, which arrives after the work has shipped and the client's attention has moved on. Invoice milestones the day they are signed off, while the project still has momentum.

Who to follow up with

Start with the person who approves the invoice, usually your client contact, and ask whether it has been approved and passed to finance. If it has, the next follow-up goes to accounts payable and asks for the payment run date. Asking your contact to chase their own finance team is fine once; after that, you are better off writing to finance directly.

Hi Priya, a quick check on invoice 1042 for the September retainer. Has it been approved on your side, and is there a PO number I should add? Happy to send it straight to your finance team if that's easier.

Keeping the relationship

Keep money conversations factual and separate from creative ones, and never let an overdue invoice change the tone of a status call. If a client disputes part of an invoice, settle that part on its own and ask for the undisputed amount to be paid now.

Common questions

Who should an agency send invoices to?: The person or address that processes payments, often an accounts payable mailbox, with your client contact copied. Ask for it at onboarding and put it in the statement of work.
How do agencies avoid late payment on the final project invoice?: Invoice milestones the day they are signed off rather than at the end, and agree the PO number and payment run timing up front. The last invoice is the slowest because the client's attention has moved on.