Get paid faster: invoice reminders and cash-flow checks with AI

By the end of this, you’ll have a 20-minute weekly routine: one list of who owes you what, the right reminder ready for each late payer, and a monthly look at the next eight weeks of cash.

Chasing invoices is unpleasant, so it slips. AI won’t make the phone call for you. It does take the drudgery out: sorting the open-items list, picking the right tone for each customer and drafting the message. You make the decisions.

What you need

• Your accounting or invoicing software (bexio, AbaNinja, Abacus, Banana, Excel). You need to be able to export a list of open invoices as Excel or CSV. Every tool names this differently, often “open items” or “Offene Posten”; check your tool’s help centre.
• An AI assistant on a business plan, such as ChatGPT Business, Gemini in Google Workspace, Claude Team or Microsoft 365 Copilot. Not a free personal account: you’re handling customer data.
• This week’s template: three reminder texts (friendly, firm, final) with QR-bill wording.
• Time: about 90 minutes to set up, then 20 minutes a week and 30 minutes a month.
• Skills: no technical skills needed. You should be comfortable opening a CSV file in Excel or Google Sheets.

Step 1: Write down your reminder rules (20 minutes)

Before any AI, decide the rules. Write them on one page:

1. Your payment terms. For example: 30 days net, with the due date printed on the invoice.
2. When each reminder goes out. For example: friendly reminder 5 days after the due date, firm reminder at 20 days, final reminder at 35 days.
3. Who gets a call instead of a letter. For example: your ten biggest customers, and anyone over CHF 5,000.
4. Whether you charge default interest or fees. Swiss law sets default interest at 5% a year unless you agreed otherwise. Reminder fees are generally only recoverable if your contract or terms say so (Wikipedia: Schuldnerverzug (Schweiz), citing Art. 102 to 106 OR).
5. What happens after the final reminder. For example: debt collection (Betreibung), or a collection agency.

Save it as “Reminder rules”. The AI will follow it, and so will whoever covers for you on holiday.