Write a three-step reminder sequence for unpaid invoices to pubs and wholesalers, from your own terms and ledger

One brewery owner wrote in 2018 that he took a day off brewing to chase unpaid invoices, and that 30-day terms could turn into chasing at 60 days. Getting paid is a cash-flow problem for a small brewery, and the chasing is slow and awkward because you want to keep the pub. A three-step sequence (a friendly reminder, a second reminder and a final reminder) that restates facts from your own ledger, asks the pub to pay or tell you if your figures look wrong, and gives a date you choose is easier to send consistently. AI drafts the three messages from blanks and your own terms line. It never decides whether a payment is late, never works out interest or fees, never says a sum is owed, and never adds a threat: your terms and your accountant or solicitor decide what you may claim, and you fill in every figure by hand.

An AI chat tool you already use, then your own email or accounts package (no pub name, invoice, amount or account detail ever goes into the AI tool; add them by hand)

Steps

1. Open your own signed trade terms and your sales ledger. Write down yourself the payment period your terms give for the account, and one plain sentence from your terms about payment that you want repeated in the reminders. If you have no written terms agreed with the pub, stop and ask your accountant or solicitor first: do not ask the AI to write them.
2. Choose the gap between the three steps (for example a week), and decide who sends them. Decide yourself whether the account is a business customer: this sequence is for business customers only.
3. Paste only your own terms sentence and your chosen gaps into the prompt. The AI returns three short messages with blanks for the pub, invoice number, invoice date, amount and dates, each ending with an invitation to tell you if the figures look wrong, and a line “if you have already paid, thank you, please ignore this”.
4. Check each draft against your ledger. Remove any word about interest, fees, charges, stopping supply, court or collection that the AI added. Add the pub name, invoice details and dates by hand, and send step one on the day you choose.
5. Send steps two and three only if your ledger still shows no payment, on the dates you set. After the final reminder the sequence stops: what happens next is a decision for you, your accountant or your solicitor.

The exact prompt

I run a small independent brewery in the UK. I want three reminders to send to a business customer (a pub or wholesaler) when my sales ledger shows an invoice unpaid. Below is one sentence from my own signed terms and my chosen gaps between reminders. The pub name, invoice details and every date and amount will be added by me by hand.

Task: write three short emails, each under 90 words, polite and direct: (1) a friendly reminder; (2) a second reminder; (3) a final reminder. Each must say that my records show no payment against invoice [INVOICE NUMBER] dated [INVOICE DATE] for [AMOUNT], repeat my terms sentence exactly as I give it, ask them to pay by [PAY BY DATE] or to tell me if they think my figures are wrong, and say "if you have already paid, thank you, please ignore this". Reminder 2 refers to the earlier reminder as [DATE OF FIRST REMINDER]; reminder 3 refers to both. Use only the blanks [PUB], [MY NAME], [INVOICE NUMBER], [INVOICE DATE], [AMOUNT], [PAY BY DATE] and [DATE OF FIRST REMINDER]. Call the third message a "final reminder", never a demand. Do not say a sum is owed or overdue, do not mention interest, fees, charges, costs, the law, court, claims, collection, stopping supply, credit ratings or any consequence, and do not say whether a payment is late or an invoice is valid.

RULES FOR THIS CHAT: I will give you only my brewery's own terms sentence and my chosen gaps. I have not included, and will not include, any pub, wholesaler, customer or staff name, address, phone number or email address, any invoice, ledger, account or amount, or any HMRC or bank detail. Do not ask for any, and do not invent any: use roles and blanks such as [PUB] and [MY NAME]. Do not do arithmetic or count dates: I will add every figure and date by hand. Do not state or suggest anything about the law, what anyone must pay or what is late. If something is unclear write [FOR ME TO DECIDE] instead of guessing.

MY TERMS SENTENCE: [PASTE]
MY GAPS BETWEEN REMINDERS: [PASTE]