Standing Orders

I'm looking for advice from those of you whose clients pay by standing order (or direct debit for that matter).

So far my clients have paid when I raise an invoice but for a more even cash flow and less chasing of clients for amounts outstanding, I decided that now is the time to move clients onto paying by standing orders.

I have already considered direct debits but the cost is the problem in that case.

So how do I go about it?

Do I just contact my larger clients or would every client be happy to pay monthly?

I was going to write to my clients and enclose a standing order mandate for completion but what about terms and conditions, are there any templates out there that I could use?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Dave