Every small business owner and freelancer wants the edge; that thing that's going to set them apart from the herd. That magical thing that is going to make their business the success story instead of the cautionary tale. But making it is never as easy as it sounds. In our competitive, fast paced market small business owners and freelancers are faced with many challenges on the way to success.
One of these stumbling blocks can be sloppy and slow control of your enterprises invoicing and payment collections. Managing how you invoice, collect payment and manage customer accounts is a vitally important piece of any SMME, but a surprisingly often overlooked one too. All too often I have discovered business owners that overlook or entirely ignore the importance of effective billing policy and management.
Secrets to a more robust, efficient and profitable business though efficient billing procedures:
Keep costs to a minimum: Shop around
A key care for anyone wishing to make their small business successful is keeping an eye on the costs of operation. Keeping the costs of invoicing and payment collection low is extremely important when it comes to controlling the costs in your business.
The key way to keep spending to a minimum is to implement methods that enable systems automation. There are many innovative web-based and software solutions out there that for a low cost automate invoicing and allow you to keep a smaller staff on the payroll to handle your businesses invoicing.
It is vital to remember that you have options. Always look around for payment gateways with the lowest costs. To keep your options free look for a payment facilitator to act as intermediary between your business and the payment gateway. Many payment gateways do not allow you to easily export client details and for enterprises using more than one gateway consolidated control is necessary. A payment facilitator will keep client billing details securely on your and your gateways behalf and allow quick switching between gateways.
Create trust: Act professional
Have you ever received a badly formatted invoice rife with spelling errors, missing fields or incorrect information? What did that make you think of the company sending the invoice? It is simple to project a sloppy, unorganised appearance to clients though badly made invoices, but just as simple to project a trustworthy, professional image.
Switching out those unprofessional do-it-yourself Microsoft Word or Excel format invoices for properly generated ones is likely one of the greatest investments you can make in your businesses future. Get software or an online product designed to create professionally made invoices. And even then remember to always ensure the customer details are right and review spelling. If you are generating tax invoices insure all the legally required information appear correctly on any invoices you create. Looking professional nurters trust in your clients.
Multiple payment options
Now that you have sent your professional looking invoice you need to get payment for it. Giving your clients several ways to make payment your invoices is always recommended. The easier it is to pay your business the more payments you will get. We recommend having the following payment methods available to increase your ability to collect payment:
- The ability to take instant secure payments via credit card
- A payment gateway that automates repeating debits via debit order from bank account or credit card
- The facilties to accept instant safe payments via credit card
Get proactive with payments
In any business it is crucial to not only manage paying client accounts, but to control past due and non-paying clients. Controlling bad debtors will ensure that your cash flow stays strong and constant. Prevention is better than cure. One of the better paths of dealing with bad debt is focusing hard to prevent it in the first instance. And you would be shocked how simple this actually is.
This calls for communication on an organized, automated scale. Sending text message (SMS) and email reminders to clients throughout your repayment, due and past due periods will up your opportunities of being payment. We advise sticking to a basic warning schedule for at least thirty days after issuing of an invoice. If funds on not received on cash on delivery invoices within ninety days of issue we suggest making use of a professional debt collection service to take charge of collection of funds.
Stand out from the crowd: Provide a high quality service
What makes you different from the herd? Have you got that thing to make you different from the group? Don't search for the answer in gimmicks or throw away 1000's on marketing and promotions. No, offering a good quality service or product reliably is the best way to genuinely set yourself apart from the herd.
Don't look for the secrets in gimmicks or throw away thousands on marketing and promotions that often do more harm than good. The only way to build long lasting customer relationships and foster vocal positive advocates for you brand is to give your customers consistent, exceptional service and quality products and services that meet their desires and expectations.
So there it is. Now you know the secret to making your small business a success. What are you waiting for? Go forth and achieve it!
One of these stumbling blocks can be sloppy and slow control of your enterprises invoicing and payment collections. Managing how you invoice, collect payment and manage customer accounts is a vitally important piece of any SMME, but a surprisingly often overlooked one too. All too often I have discovered business owners that overlook or entirely ignore the importance of effective billing policy and management.
Secrets to a more robust, efficient and profitable business though efficient billing procedures:
Keep costs to a minimum: Shop around
A key care for anyone wishing to make their small business successful is keeping an eye on the costs of operation. Keeping the costs of invoicing and payment collection low is extremely important when it comes to controlling the costs in your business.
The key way to keep spending to a minimum is to implement methods that enable systems automation. There are many innovative web-based and software solutions out there that for a low cost automate invoicing and allow you to keep a smaller staff on the payroll to handle your businesses invoicing.
It is vital to remember that you have options. Always look around for payment gateways with the lowest costs. To keep your options free look for a payment facilitator to act as intermediary between your business and the payment gateway. Many payment gateways do not allow you to easily export client details and for enterprises using more than one gateway consolidated control is necessary. A payment facilitator will keep client billing details securely on your and your gateways behalf and allow quick switching between gateways.
Create trust: Act professional
Have you ever received a badly formatted invoice rife with spelling errors, missing fields or incorrect information? What did that make you think of the company sending the invoice? It is simple to project a sloppy, unorganised appearance to clients though badly made invoices, but just as simple to project a trustworthy, professional image.
Switching out those unprofessional do-it-yourself Microsoft Word or Excel format invoices for properly generated ones is likely one of the greatest investments you can make in your businesses future. Get software or an online product designed to create professionally made invoices. And even then remember to always ensure the customer details are right and review spelling. If you are generating tax invoices insure all the legally required information appear correctly on any invoices you create. Looking professional nurters trust in your clients.
Multiple payment options
Now that you have sent your professional looking invoice you need to get payment for it. Giving your clients several ways to make payment your invoices is always recommended. The easier it is to pay your business the more payments you will get. We recommend having the following payment methods available to increase your ability to collect payment:
- The ability to take instant secure payments via credit card
- A payment gateway that automates repeating debits via debit order from bank account or credit card
- The facilties to accept instant safe payments via credit card
Get proactive with payments
In any business it is crucial to not only manage paying client accounts, but to control past due and non-paying clients. Controlling bad debtors will ensure that your cash flow stays strong and constant. Prevention is better than cure. One of the better paths of dealing with bad debt is focusing hard to prevent it in the first instance. And you would be shocked how simple this actually is.
This calls for communication on an organized, automated scale. Sending text message (SMS) and email reminders to clients throughout your repayment, due and past due periods will up your opportunities of being payment. We advise sticking to a basic warning schedule for at least thirty days after issuing of an invoice. If funds on not received on cash on delivery invoices within ninety days of issue we suggest making use of a professional debt collection service to take charge of collection of funds.
Stand out from the crowd: Provide a high quality service
What makes you different from the herd? Have you got that thing to make you different from the group? Don't search for the answer in gimmicks or throw away 1000's on marketing and promotions. No, offering a good quality service or product reliably is the best way to genuinely set yourself apart from the herd.
Don't look for the secrets in gimmicks or throw away thousands on marketing and promotions that often do more harm than good. The only way to build long lasting customer relationships and foster vocal positive advocates for you brand is to give your customers consistent, exceptional service and quality products and services that meet their desires and expectations.
So there it is. Now you know the secret to making your small business a success. What are you waiting for? Go forth and achieve it!
About the Author:
An online billing and invoicing system is critical to allow any business to uphold a professional image. SnapBill has been helping businesses for years and are providing a free account to get going.
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