17-02-2012, 09:21
I always ask for the money within the first 5 minutes or so of a date and I count the money in front of my clients too. If the money hasn't been offered before I ask, I then say "shall we get the paper work out of the way?". I think it's a nicer way of asking for the payment without any embarrassment. I then tell clients that I will count the money out in front of them, just in case there's any mistakes. I've never met any clients who have had an objection to this and why should they? After all, if you buy something in a shop, the shop assistant isn't too embarrassed to count the money in front of you or ask for your credit card! Unfortunately there are people out there who will try and get away without paying or will try and short-change you and mistakes can sometimes be made by genuine clients when counting the money. I had a lovely regular client who I saw every week for a year and every week he would give me my fee with £10 short. I never understood why he did this because he knew that I counted the money in front of him and I always asked for the missing £10!