Chasing customers and quotes: how much time does a small business lose?

Why there is no single figure

You sometimes read that a business owner loses ‘so many hours a week’ on admin. I would rather not repeat that kind of figure: it depends enormously on the trade, the number of customers, the size of the quotes and your customers’ payment habits. A coach who sells sessions and a service company that invoices on-site jobs do not have the same week at all.

What does exist is reliable public data on late payments, clear legal rules, and a simple method to measure your own time. That is what I suggest here.

What the public figures say

Every year, the Banque de France publishes the report of the French Payment Delays Observatory.

• According to the 2025 report (in French), published in September 2026, the average payment delay in France stood at 13.4 days at the end of 2025, slightly above the European average. The report also notes that customer and supplier payment times fell by a day and a half in 2024.
• According to the 2024 report (in French), published in July 2025, without these delays, small and medium-sized businesses would have had €15 billion more in cash in 2024. The same report states that more than two SMEs out of three pay their suppliers within the 60 days allowed by law.

These figures do not directly measure the time spent chasing. They do show, however, that waiting for payment is common, and that every day of delay weighs on the cash flow of small businesses.

What the law says in France

Between businesses, the rules are precise. The page on payment terms between professionals (in French) on Service Public Entreprendre sums them up:

• in principle, the payment term is 30 days after receipt of the goods or completion of the service;
• businesses can agree on a longer term, up to 45 days end of month or 60 days from the invoice date, provided it is written into the terms of sale or the contract;
• in the event of late payment, penalties apply, without any need to send a reminder;
• a fixed €40 recovery fee is due for each invoice paid late. It must appear in your terms of sale and on your invoices.

The first time saving is often right there: invoices and terms of sale that clearly state the due date, the penalties and the fee.

Where the time really goes

In a small business, the time spent on quotes and follow-ups falls into three blocks.

Quotes. Rereading the request, asking the missing questions, finding the right prices, calculating, formatting, sending, then redoing the quote when the need changes.

Sales follow-ups. Remembering each quote sent, checking whether the customer has replied in the meantime, finding the context again, writing a message that is neither too pushy nor too vague.

Payment follow-ups. Checking the payments received, spotting delays, writing, calling, updating the tracking.

Each of these actions is short. It is their number, and the way they are scattered through the week, that ends up being costly.

Measuring your own time

For two weeks, simply note each action with an estimate of how long it took. At the end, fill in this grid with your own figures:

• Quotes: number of quotes sent × average time per quote.
• Revised quotes: number of quotes changed × average time per change.
• Sales follow-ups: number of follow-ups × average time per follow-up.
• Payment follow-ups: number of late invoices × time spent per invoice.
• Looking for information: time spent finding a price, a history or a document.

The total gives you your figure, the only one that really matters when deciding what to change first.

Five levers to reduce that time

1. A single catalogue with your prices and pricing rules: quotes are built without re-typing.
2. A payment link in the quote: a customer who accepts can pay straight away, instead of waiting for the invoice and then the payment.
3. Follow-ups at a set pace: a first message a few days later, a second one a little after that, then stop. And a check before each message.
4. Complete invoices: due date, late payment penalties and the €40 fee clearly stated.
5. Tracking in one place: every quote, follow-up and payment attached to the right customer.

What Alex does

Alex, Work Without Me’s AI sales agent, applies these levers in your business:

• the Quotes + Stripe payments module (€794) prepares accurate quotes from your catalogue, attaches a payment link and verifies the payment with Stripe;
• the Follow-ups module (€197) follows up quotes and leads with no reply, and stops as soon as the person replies, declines or pays;
• the Invoicing module (€297) produces the invoice linked to the order, after the payment has been verified.

Because payment happens when the customer accepts the quote, invoices waiting to be paid become rarer. Recovering any unpaid invoices remains your job. These three modules are part of the complete pack, at €2,797 instead of €3,576 (save €779, −22%). All prices: VAT not applicable, art. 293 B of the French General Tax Code (CGI). The details are in the Pricing section.

Frequently asked questions

To go further: quote automation, automatic quote follow-ups, and the pages for service businesses, freelancers, agencies and trainers.