If you need a deposit or a prepayment before the photography takes place, you simply ask the customer for it. Easy, right?
With retail customers, this is a straightforward process. But with some corporate customers, it might require slightly more paperwork.
Some companies can’t, or won’t, issue a prepayment based only on a photographer’s estimate or quote. They may need an invoice. An invoice is a legal request for payment, a quote is not.
How do you invoice a customer for work that hasn’t been done?
If the exact final price of a job is known ahead of time then you could send a normal invoice to the customer. In that invoice, you would state that a deposit of, let’s say, 35% of the invoice total is required in advance. The balance would be due after the work is completed.
Of course, your invoice could request 100% to be paid in advance. Many other businesses require the customer to pay in full before the product or service is delivered.
But with some commercial photography, the final price may not be known ahead of time. There might be some additional work, possible licensing changes, additional expenses, etc., that can’t be accurately quoted ahead of time. In these cases, you would send the customer a “pre-invoice” or a “pro forma invoice”.
Another reason for using a pro forma invoice is that some corporate customers will not pay two invoices for the same job. So you send a pro forma invoice initially and then follow up with the final invoice. Yes, technically it’s still two invoices ;-)
Pro forma invoice more binding than a quote
In rare cases, a photography customer may request a pre-invoice or pro forma invoice before the photography begins. This isn’t because the customer wants to make a prepayment but rather they want it for formal business accounting purposes. A pro forma invoice is more legally binding than a quote. (Another way to formalize an agreement is by having the customer give you a purchase order.)
A quote is a conditional promise: I will do this photography if you pay me this amount of money.
A pro forma invoice is a commitment: I am going to do this photography and you’re going to pay me this amount of money.
A pro forma invoice could look like your normal invoice except it would say “Pro forma Invoice” rather than just “Invoice.”
Interim Invoices
An interim invoice is used if you need to partially bill a customer during a long-running job. This might be the case for photography that happens over many months especially if there are a lot of ongoing expenses. Rather than waiting until the end and carrying all the expenses, you can make an agreement with the customer to bill, for example, at the end of each month.
