January 2017
Quit the Chase: How to Use a Bespoke CRM for More Efficient Invoicing
Getting clients to pay on time can quite easily be one of the most frustrating and resource-heavy experiences for a business owner. On one hand, there are the great clients who pay on the due date (sometimes even a few days earlier) whilst others seem to drag their heels, slowing down your cash flow and making it more difficult to run your business – leaving your team to chase them up.
Why it’s Important to Tackle the Issue Now
Admittedly sometimes, the inefficiency in getting paid on time can come from internal invoicing procedures and the use of external software in addition to your CRM, but most of the time, it’s simply that clients are trying to manage their own cash flow at the expense of yours.
But if you’re intent on growing your business in 2017, then this is a hurdle you have to clear first in order to free up resources and perfect your cash flow to facilitate that growth and allow you to invest back into the business.
So how can you quit the chase and use your bespoke CRM solution to get paid on time with minimum fuss? Easy: start simple with three bespoke CRM features which make the most of automation and take the task out of your team’s hands.
1. Automate Invoicing
Rather than using a separate tool for creating your invoices, pull them together on your bespoke CRM and have their continued creation and sending out completely automated. With this feature, your team don’t have to think about putting invoices together or worry about if they’ve been sent – the CRM takes care of all the hard work!
2. Chase on Demand
Just because someone receives their invoice on time, doesn’t mean they’ll pay on time unfortunately. That’s where automated chasing comes in handy. Rather than have your team spend their valuable time making calls and sending emails to chase after money, set up an automated campaign to follow up on unpaid invoices and increase the chance of getting paid without using up team resources.
3. Set Up Reminders
It doesn’t always have to even come to chasing clients, however. By setting up automated reminders scheduled for a few days before their due date, you can skip their memories and ensure your invoice hasn’t been lost in the pile. It’s useful to have these for every client anyway, so that those who are habitually late payers can get into the habit of paying on the due date.
Are You Back in the Flow?
After a few months of trialling this new, automated method, commit to pulling out reports from your bespoke CRM to identify which clients specifically are still not paying on time and how this is affecting the cash flow. From here you can make a managerial decision to place sanctions on their work until invoices are cleared, revamp your invoicing procedure, or to get in touch with them to discuss how you can both work together to get paid on time.
In 2017, take back control of your business – starting with your invoicing and cash flow. If you’d like a free demo of the Lunar bespoke CRM or to find out more, don’t hesitate to get in touch and let’s make this year a great one!