What sets you apart from the pack and gives your enterprise that special something? What will to make your small business the shining example instead of the bad tale? Each small business owner and freelancer wants to know! But everyone knows that putting your finger on that quality and identifying it is never easy, and once recognized even more challenging to foster and put into practice. Don't be fooled, lots stands in the way of you and your businesses success.
Many small business owner and freelancers don't realize that a big part of reaching success resides in the way you manage your businesses billing and payment collection. It seems almost a no brainer to have effective procedures in place to deal with invoicing, payment collection and management of bad debit. But all too often one comes across businesses that overlook this important aspect of their success entirely.
Secrets to a more robust, efficient and profitable business though effective billing procedures:
Don't spend a lot
A key care for anyone wishing to make their small business a success is keeping an eye on the costs of operation. Keeping the costs of invoicing and payment collection low is very important when it comes to managing the costs in your business.
Use insightful online systems and systems automation to keep the amount of workers you need to employ in your accounts department low. There are lots of tools on the market currently that allow you to automate recurring billing giving you maximum control over your daily operations with an almost skeleton staff.
It is important to remember that you have choice. Look around for payment gateways with the lowest rates. Many payment gateways do not give you the ability to easily export your customer's payment details. This prevents you from changing between gateways easily. Shop around for a payment facilitator to give you more flexibility. A payment facilitator will store client billing details securely on your and the gateways behalf and allow simple switching between gateways, so you always have the cheapest rates and your customers the most choice.
Create trust: Be professional
How many times have you received a badly formatted invoice rife with grammar mistakes, omitted fields or wrong information? What does that make you think of the enterprise sending the invoice? Poorly made, unprofessional invoices reflect badly on the products and services you deliver. This method of creating a bad impression of your businesses degree of service is just as simple to avoid as it is to create.
A poor quality invoice reflects badly on your customer's option of the services you offer. Doing away with those unprofessional do-it-yourself Microsoft Word or Excel format invoices for professionally generated ones is probably one of the best investments you can make in your SMME's success. Get software or start using a web based service designed to issue professional looking invoices. Always check that the client's information is right and if you are issuing tax invoices ensure all the legally required fields appear without error.
Payment collection
Now that you have issued your professional looking invoice you need to get payment for it. Giving your clients several ways to pay 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 options available to maximize your ability to receive payment:
- A credit card payment gateway where clients can immediately and securely pay for your products online
- The option for clients to pay through an automated recurring debit order from credit card or bank account
- The ability for customers to pay via an automated repeating debit order from bank account or credit card
Good cash flow: Manage bad debits
The necessity to monitor and control bad debt in an important factor in the success of your business. Managing bad debt will ensure that your cash flow stays strong and constant. One of the best ways to do this is striving hard to prevent it in the first instance. This calls for communication on an organised, scheduled scale. By this I mean, keep your customers informed every step of the way.
The idea is open access to information and straight forward, direct correspondence. Keep your clients informed every step of the way. Send reminders, payment warning, past due warning and suspension emails. Do so via email and text messages (SMS) in a simple timely manner over the course of the customer's repayment. Allow your client the highest degree of access to their account information, account balances and required repayment amounts. To assist you do this, make sure that you have software in place to help you automate and schedule correspondence with customers.
Be exceptional
Small businesses and freelancers need to work hard to set themselves apart from the crowd. Standing out from the herd translates to more business. The single way to really stand out from the herd and keep customers coming back is to offer a exceptional quality service or product reliably.
Don't look for the answer in gimmicks or toss away thousands on marketing and promotions that often do more damage than good. The only way to build long lasting customer relationships and make vocal positive advocates for you brand is to give your clients consistent, outstanding service and quality products and services that meet their desires and expectations.
And there you have it! The ways for making your small business more successful are now in your grasp. No time to waste, get focused and start putting these tools to excellent use!
Many small business owner and freelancers don't realize that a big part of reaching success resides in the way you manage your businesses billing and payment collection. It seems almost a no brainer to have effective procedures in place to deal with invoicing, payment collection and management of bad debit. But all too often one comes across businesses that overlook this important aspect of their success entirely.
Secrets to a more robust, efficient and profitable business though effective billing procedures:
Don't spend a lot
A key care for anyone wishing to make their small business a success is keeping an eye on the costs of operation. Keeping the costs of invoicing and payment collection low is very important when it comes to managing the costs in your business.
Use insightful online systems and systems automation to keep the amount of workers you need to employ in your accounts department low. There are lots of tools on the market currently that allow you to automate recurring billing giving you maximum control over your daily operations with an almost skeleton staff.
It is important to remember that you have choice. Look around for payment gateways with the lowest rates. Many payment gateways do not give you the ability to easily export your customer's payment details. This prevents you from changing between gateways easily. Shop around for a payment facilitator to give you more flexibility. A payment facilitator will store client billing details securely on your and the gateways behalf and allow simple switching between gateways, so you always have the cheapest rates and your customers the most choice.
Create trust: Be professional
How many times have you received a badly formatted invoice rife with grammar mistakes, omitted fields or wrong information? What does that make you think of the enterprise sending the invoice? Poorly made, unprofessional invoices reflect badly on the products and services you deliver. This method of creating a bad impression of your businesses degree of service is just as simple to avoid as it is to create.
A poor quality invoice reflects badly on your customer's option of the services you offer. Doing away with those unprofessional do-it-yourself Microsoft Word or Excel format invoices for professionally generated ones is probably one of the best investments you can make in your SMME's success. Get software or start using a web based service designed to issue professional looking invoices. Always check that the client's information is right and if you are issuing tax invoices ensure all the legally required fields appear without error.
Payment collection
Now that you have issued your professional looking invoice you need to get payment for it. Giving your clients several ways to pay 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 options available to maximize your ability to receive payment:
- A credit card payment gateway where clients can immediately and securely pay for your products online
- The option for clients to pay through an automated recurring debit order from credit card or bank account
- The ability for customers to pay via an automated repeating debit order from bank account or credit card
Good cash flow: Manage bad debits
The necessity to monitor and control bad debt in an important factor in the success of your business. Managing bad debt will ensure that your cash flow stays strong and constant. One of the best ways to do this is striving hard to prevent it in the first instance. This calls for communication on an organised, scheduled scale. By this I mean, keep your customers informed every step of the way.
The idea is open access to information and straight forward, direct correspondence. Keep your clients informed every step of the way. Send reminders, payment warning, past due warning and suspension emails. Do so via email and text messages (SMS) in a simple timely manner over the course of the customer's repayment. Allow your client the highest degree of access to their account information, account balances and required repayment amounts. To assist you do this, make sure that you have software in place to help you automate and schedule correspondence with customers.
Be exceptional
Small businesses and freelancers need to work hard to set themselves apart from the crowd. Standing out from the herd translates to more business. The single way to really stand out from the herd and keep customers coming back is to offer a exceptional quality service or product reliably.
Don't look for the answer in gimmicks or toss away thousands on marketing and promotions that often do more damage than good. The only way to build long lasting customer relationships and make vocal positive advocates for you brand is to give your clients consistent, outstanding service and quality products and services that meet their desires and expectations.
And there you have it! The ways for making your small business more successful are now in your grasp. No time to waste, get focused and start putting these tools to excellent use!
About the Author:
A recurring billing and saas 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 started.
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