Dario Greggio wrote:
>> I'd be interested to know which fun things turned into not so fun things 
>> for
>> you, and why you think it happened.
>
> For me, having to chase customers in order to get paid.
> An italian problem, I know.

Yeah, right. :)

We as a company learned a few tricks over the years for dealing with this 
problem.

First, if the customer is slow to pay, we put whatever shipments we have for 
them, on hold. This strategy is far more effective, than begging or 
threatening. The hard part is standing your ground, while the customer 
threatens ("I'll take my business elsewhere!") or begs ("please, I REALLY 
need this stuff NOW, I'll put the check in the mail today!"). We politely 
explain that we will ship as soon as we receive the payment.

Second, it helps to get a deposit (we usually charge b/w 10 and 30%), and 
then distribute it over multiple shipments. The customer is less likely to 
"jump ship", knowing that they would lose the deposit. The second part 
(distributing deposit over multiple shipments) is also very important. 
Resist the temptation to give in to the customer and apply the deposit to 
the first delivery.

Now, of course, I'm talking about tangible items, but the same concept can 
easily be extended to IP. Agile with its incremental deliveries seems to be 
best suited for this sort of arrangement, but in any case most projects have 
"milestones" and "deliverables".

Vitaliy

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