Many freelancers and small business owners want that secret something that's going to set them apart from their competitors. The secret that's going to put ahead of the group; Yes, everyone wants a piece of that magic quality that is going to make their business the shining example instead of the scary tale. SMME owners are faced with a minefield of challenges on their way to success in today's competitive marketplace.
Making a success out of your business is never as easy as it sounds. Efficiently and effectively controlling the invoicing and payment collection in your businesses is 1 of the chief obstacles obstacles faced by SMME's and freelancers. Most of you will be surprised to hear that this crucial aspect of a business's success is shockingly often neglected. One can never put too much importance on the necessity to have an effective invoicing policy.
Making your business more successful though effective invoicing policy:
Don't spend a lot
Key among the problems the small business owner or freelancers face is keeping the cost of operation low. This is doubly true when it comes to making the costs of billing and payment collection low.
The key way to keep costs low is to implement tools that facilitate systems automation. There are many creative web-based and software solutions out there that for a small cost automate invoicing and allow you to keep a smaller staff on the payroll to handle your businesses billing.
It is important to note that you have choice. You must shop around for payment gateways with the lowest costs. To keep your choices open search for a payment facilitator to act as intermediary between your business and the payment gateway. Some payment gateways do not allow you to readily export client details and for companies using more than one gateway centralized control is vital. A payment facilitator will keep customer billing information safely on your and the gateways behalf and allow easy switching between gateways.
Foster a professional look
It is easy to projecting a trustworthy, professional image to clients, but just as easy to create a sloppy, unorganized image. Issuing badly formatted quotations and invoices in Microsoft Word or Excel format is not professional. You may be surprised, but a poor quality invoice reflects negatively on your customer's option of the products you offer.
Changing those badly formatted do-it-yourself Microsoft Word or Excel format invoices for properly generated invoices is likely one of the greatest investments you can make in your enterprises growth. Get software or a web-based service made to create professionally made invoices. And even then remember to always ensure the customer information are right and check spelling. If you are issuing tax invoices insure all the legally needed information appear correctly on any invoices you issue. Looking professional inspires trust in your clients.
Payment gathering
So, you have issued your professionlally formatted invoice, now you need to collect payment for it. It is advised to offer your customers as many easy ways as possible to pay your services. Getting payment for the products or services you render becomes infinitely easier if you make it simple and hassle-free for your customers to pay. We recommend having the following payment options available to maximize your chances to collect payments:
- Facilities to process and capture direct or bank deposits as well as electronic funds or wire transfers
- Ways to to capture and process electronic funds or wire transfers as well as direct or bank deposits
- The facilties to do immediate safe payments with a credit card
Keeping your business liquid
The necessity to monitor and control bad debt in an important factor in the success of your enterprise. Managing bad debt will ensure that your cash flow remains strong and constant. One of the best ways to do this is striving hard to avoid it in the first instance. This calls for correspondence on an organised, automated scale. By this I mean, keep your clients informed every step of the way.
Effective communication and access to account information puts your clients in the best possible place to pay you. Sending text message (SMS) and email messages to clients throughout your repayment, due and past due periods will increase your chances of being paid. To help you do this, get software in place to help you automate and schedule communication with clients.
Create vocal positive brand advocates
SMME's need to work hard to set themselves apart from the crowd. Standing out from the herd translates to better business. The only way to genuinely stand out from the pack and keep clients coming back is to provide a exceptional quality service or product reliably.
Granted, limited success can be achieved through other avenues. But the single way to build long lasting customer relationships and create vocal positive disciples for you business is to give your clients un-changing, exceptional service and quality products and services that meet their needs and assumptions.
And there you it is! Now you have discovered the secrets to making your small business more profitable. What are you sitting around for? No time to waste, start putting these ideas to good use today!
Making a success out of your business is never as easy as it sounds. Efficiently and effectively controlling the invoicing and payment collection in your businesses is 1 of the chief obstacles obstacles faced by SMME's and freelancers. Most of you will be surprised to hear that this crucial aspect of a business's success is shockingly often neglected. One can never put too much importance on the necessity to have an effective invoicing policy.
Making your business more successful though effective invoicing policy:
Don't spend a lot
Key among the problems the small business owner or freelancers face is keeping the cost of operation low. This is doubly true when it comes to making the costs of billing and payment collection low.
The key way to keep costs low is to implement tools that facilitate systems automation. There are many creative web-based and software solutions out there that for a small cost automate invoicing and allow you to keep a smaller staff on the payroll to handle your businesses billing.
It is important to note that you have choice. You must shop around for payment gateways with the lowest costs. To keep your choices open search for a payment facilitator to act as intermediary between your business and the payment gateway. Some payment gateways do not allow you to readily export client details and for companies using more than one gateway centralized control is vital. A payment facilitator will keep customer billing information safely on your and the gateways behalf and allow easy switching between gateways.
Foster a professional look
It is easy to projecting a trustworthy, professional image to clients, but just as easy to create a sloppy, unorganized image. Issuing badly formatted quotations and invoices in Microsoft Word or Excel format is not professional. You may be surprised, but a poor quality invoice reflects negatively on your customer's option of the products you offer.
Changing those badly formatted do-it-yourself Microsoft Word or Excel format invoices for properly generated invoices is likely one of the greatest investments you can make in your enterprises growth. Get software or a web-based service made to create professionally made invoices. And even then remember to always ensure the customer information are right and check spelling. If you are issuing tax invoices insure all the legally needed information appear correctly on any invoices you issue. Looking professional inspires trust in your clients.
Payment gathering
So, you have issued your professionlally formatted invoice, now you need to collect payment for it. It is advised to offer your customers as many easy ways as possible to pay your services. Getting payment for the products or services you render becomes infinitely easier if you make it simple and hassle-free for your customers to pay. We recommend having the following payment options available to maximize your chances to collect payments:
- Facilities to process and capture direct or bank deposits as well as electronic funds or wire transfers
- Ways to to capture and process electronic funds or wire transfers as well as direct or bank deposits
- The facilties to do immediate safe payments with a credit card
Keeping your business liquid
The necessity to monitor and control bad debt in an important factor in the success of your enterprise. Managing bad debt will ensure that your cash flow remains strong and constant. One of the best ways to do this is striving hard to avoid it in the first instance. This calls for correspondence on an organised, automated scale. By this I mean, keep your clients informed every step of the way.
Effective communication and access to account information puts your clients in the best possible place to pay you. Sending text message (SMS) and email messages to clients throughout your repayment, due and past due periods will increase your chances of being paid. To help you do this, get software in place to help you automate and schedule communication with clients.
Create vocal positive brand advocates
SMME's need to work hard to set themselves apart from the crowd. Standing out from the herd translates to better business. The only way to genuinely stand out from the pack and keep clients coming back is to provide a exceptional quality service or product reliably.
Granted, limited success can be achieved through other avenues. But the single way to build long lasting customer relationships and create vocal positive disciples for you business is to give your clients un-changing, exceptional service and quality products and services that meet their needs and assumptions.
And there you it is! Now you have discovered the secrets to making your small business more profitable. What are you sitting around for? No time to waste, start putting these ideas to good use today!
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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