Oct 5, 2026 · 14 min · 7 segments
Tim's cleaner did a cracking job two weeks ago. Tim even held out his credit card. Yet the cleaner still hasn't been paid, and there's no dispute, no problem, and no cash flow issue. He just never…
Now, there's enormous amount of noise in this country about getting paid, and the numbers have actually gotten better.
Xero's Small Business Insights, which tracks around five hundred and twenty thousand Australian businesses and probably more in New Zealand and the US, found that we waited an average of twenty-four point one days to be paid in the March quarter of this year, with invoices landing about six point nine, nine days after their due date.
And every single tool, every benchmark, every piece of advice about debtor days and payment terms and chasing overdue accounts, all of it starts counting the moment the invoice goes out the door.
He does not appear in a single one of those statistics because you cannot be late on an invoice that doesn't exist.
And as far as every benchmark in this country is concerned, that job never happened.
Because the entire industry has optimized the part of the process that begins after you ask for the money.
Almost nobody is measuring the gap between the work finishing and asking for the ma- payment.
Because every other part of you-- re- of your revenue chain has someone on the other end pushing, right? A lead comes in, and the customer starts waiting.
In fact, it's the only step in the whole chain where the other party is perfectly happy for you to never do it.
Now, there's enormous amount of noise in this country about getting paid, and the numbers have actually gotten better.
Xero's Small Business Insights, which tracks around five hundred and twenty thousand Australian businesses and probably more in New Zealand and the US, found that we waited an average of twenty-four point one days to be paid in the March quarter of this year, with invoices landing about six point nine, nine days after their due date.
And every single tool, every benchmark, every piece of advice about debtor days and payment terms and chasing overdue accounts, all of it starts counting the moment the invoice goes out the door.
He does not appear in a single one of those statistics because you cannot be late on an invoice that doesn't exist.
And as far as every benchmark in this country is concerned, that job never happened.
Because the entire industry has optimized the part of the process that begins after you ask for the money.
Almost nobody is measuring the gap between the work finishing and asking for the ma- payment.
Because every other part of you-- re- of your revenue chain has someone on the other end pushing, right? A lead comes in, and the customer starts waiting.
In fact, it's the only step in the whole chain where the other party is perfectly happy for you to never do it.
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