From yes to paid

A sale closes in one place and is finished in several others. Before the money arrives, the same order becomes an invoice, a payment to match and, where there are goods, a purchase, a delivery and a stock count. Each handover is a place for time and money to go.

We read 37 published sources on those handovers. Nobody has followed one order from the sale to the money, so here is what the evidence says about each step, and what to do about it.

1. Carry the order, don't type it again#

In 2025, 46.45% of EU enterprises with ten or more people used software that shares one record between functions, and 41.08% of those with 10 to 49 people. In the rest, an order is typed again on its way to an invoice. Nobody has counted how often, but typing has a price: an invoice that arrives as a PDF by email costs its receiver EUR 7.68 to process, against EUR 2.27 as structured data. Make the invoice from the quote the customer accepted, line for line.

2. Promise from what's on the shelf#

Where stock records have been counted, most were wrong. 65% of nearly 370,000 records in 37 stores of one retailer didn't match the shelf, and a 2025 study of another retailer found 35.3% accurate. Hold the goods for an order the moment it's confirmed, so two orders can't promise the same stock, and correct the record after a count, with a reason for each change.

3. Treat a missed promise as a lost order#

A short shipment costs more than the shipment. At one supplier, a one-point rise in the share of ordered goods it could ship went with an 11% rise in what its business customers ordered next. Know about a late supplier delivery the morning after it was due, while there's still time to tell the customer.

4. Watch the slow invoices, not the average#

The average invoice is paid near its date. Large Australian businesses pay small suppliers in 27.2 days on average against a 29-day term, yet it takes 55 days for 95% of those invoices to be paid. In the United Kingdom, large businesses paid 16% of invoices late in 2024. The average hides the tail, so look at each invoice the day it goes past due.

5. Chase in writing, the day after#

Chasing takes real hours, though the two counts are six times apart: a vendor survey puts it at 9.85 hours a week for each company, a survey for the UK government at 86 hours a year for each business that chases at all. A short reminder from your own address, the day after the due date, takes minutes. Everyone thinks the other side is the problem: in a European Commission survey, 73% said their customers pay them late, and 24% admitted paying late themselves.

6. Match every payment to its invoices#

A payment left unmatched keeps an invoice open that is already paid, and the next reminder goes to a customer who paid. Split each payment across the invoices it covers the day it arrives.

How SalexHub does it#

The Agent drafts the invoice from the quote your customer accepted, with the same lines and total, and you issue it. Confirming an order holds the goods for it, and a deal shows which of its lines are in stock and which have to be bought. A Mini watches sent invoices and tells you the day one goes past due, with what's owed and what happened last on the account. Ask who's late paying, and the Agent writes one reminder for each, from your own address. Tell it what arrived, and it splits the payment across the invoices it pays.