3. How to get paid faster by customers?

Invoice faster by automating the invoicing process in management

When billing based on time spent, the customer expects to receive an invoice at a certain frequency. As part of a project under management, invoicing is often done every month.

So that invoicing can be carried out as early as possible in the month, a few processes must be put in place to speed up:

• Validation of times achieved by the client or by the manager, with an online approval workflow. This facilitates exchanges and makes billing more reliable.
• Automatic retrieval of Activity Reports for the preparation of invoices. The data submitted must allow automatic preparation of invoices
• Mass sending of invoices from the invoicing platform. Here again, a suitable tool saves many hours of work on invoicing

Automate communication to invoice due dates sooner

In the case of flat rate billing, it is most often a communication problem which results in a payment cycle that is too long.

Field teams and project managers do not always have in mind the importance of confirming to the invoicing teams the completion of a step which allows a due date to be invoiced.

These project teams must be able to easily indicate when a deadline can be invoiced. Ideally, from their project management tool, they should be able to confirm the achievement of the deadline, which notifies the invoicing teams. Thanks to this example of automated communication, invoicing can be carried out immediately and payment is therefore received more quickly than if the invoicing had been issued late.

Better control regarding overdue payments

To improve cash flow, you need to be able to track unpaid debts. It is important to be able to consult a report on unpaid invoices: the aged balance is a report which allows you to analyze unpaid invoices and classify them according to the number of days that have passed since they became unpaid. The objective is to prioritize reminders. In fact, the more time passes, the less easy it is to recover a debt.

This reporting must be easily readable by the billing teams and must make it possible to prioritize follow-up actions.

Effectively manage customer reminders

If customer reminders cannot systematically be automated, it is possible to considerably simplify the process. Here are the steps to improve reminders:

• Set up an automatic notification system when an invoice goes unpaid. This information must be automatically transmitted to those responsible for recovery but also to those responsible for the project who sometimes find it easier to win their case with the client. Billing software generally allows you to create this notification system.
• Being able to automate reminders, depending on clients and projects. Automatic reminders are not always the best option. Relationships and knowledge of the context are essential for recovery to be effective. However, for a large number of projects, an automatic follow-up with timed emails can reinforce the effectiveness of the system.

The 9 problems of project invoicing and how Stafiz helps you solve them?

1. How to estimate costs, prices and billing type for a billable project?

2. How to manage the risks of project overruns ?

3. How to get paid faster by customers?

4. How to manage complex billing arrangements

5. How to take into account the invoicing of taxes? and multi-currency billing?

6. How to manage invoicing between different entities of the same company (interco flow)

7. How to simplify communication with customers?

8. How can certain parameters be modified during projects that will impact invoicing?

9. How to set up a project quote and invoicing tool?

The 9 problems of project invoicing