In today’s ever expanding world of payment collections the debit order reigns supreme as the ultimate low cost solution to efficient bulk payment collection. If you have thought about starting to utilize debit order payments for your collections then read this article to get an overview of this payment collection system. Read more here …

We all know that making invoices and quotations manually can be very time consuming and also technically challenging. Do any of the following manual invoicing related problems sound familiar?

• Manual invoicing wastes time: It can honestly take hours to invoice your entire client database every month, especially if you run a business that requires clients to be billed on a recurring or subscription basis.
• Errors can be made: Manual invoicing leaves your invoices open to human error. Skipping an invoicing number or duplication an invoice can be detrimental to your businesses accounting.
• Entering the same details over and over again: Making invoices yourself in Excel or Word usually means that the lime items or item descriptions you use are not easily accessible and have to be retyped or copy/pasted on a repetitive basis, wasting precious man hours.
• Issuing your invoices to clients: Sending each invoice or quote manually can take hours and results in invoices often not reaching their intended recipients or emails being set with an incorrect invoice attached or worse still, without attachments.
• Backups: If you make invoices yourself you probably store them on one work computer. This means invoices cannot be access when you are away from this computer, limiting your mobility and potential to give swift customer service with billing enquiries.
• Is your data safe? Storing all your invoices and quotations on one pc can result in everything being lost when your computer crashes or gets stolen. Security on your work pc is also only as good as the anti-virus program you can afford; often times leaving your data open to being accessed by unauthorized personnel.

This may lead you to ask why anyone would still be using these outdated procedures to send invoices and quotes to their clients. You will therefore be shocked to hear that a large portion of freelancers and small business owners still apply these outdated business billing principles to their invoicing today. Little do they know that clean, safe, backed-up modern billing is only a few clicks away. And that this way of billing won’t break the bank.

The way forward: Online invoicing

Finding a web-based billing system for your business is one of the simplest things you can do. It also has one of the biggest impacts on your businesses success. Simply starting by doing an online search for a web based billing or invoicing system, review and compare and you could be well on your way to better billing within a matter of minutes.

Benefits of doing web-based invoicing:

• As online billing is automated you will save hours of time you would have spent on billing each week. Because you don’t need to do so much manual work you can also employ less staff.
• No more human errors, duplications or mistakes. An online system eliminates these almost entirely as they have built-in fail safes to prevent this.
• Online billing systems usually automate everything for you. Because most online billing systems uses standardised templates and line items all you need to do is enter them once and you never have to re-enter them again.
• Gone are the days that you need to manually email invoices to clients. Most good billing systems come with the ability to schedule the automatic sending of invoices. No more converting invoices to PDF manually either – most good online invoicing systems issue the invoices you schedule in html and PDF format.
• Are you active? Always out of the office seeing clients or meeting suppliers? An online billing system stores all your billing data online. This means you can access it anytime, anywhere, from any web enabled device. Truly mobile billing.
• Good online invoicing systems run real-time backups of your data and have stringent security protocols in place meaning your data is always safe. Never again will you lose any client data due to a stole laptop or crashed pc.

Now is the time to take action! Get started today. It is simple. Anyone can do it. Get online and start searching for a web-based invoicing or billing systems that going to get you billing the 21^st century way.

Read the tips below to see how you can easily sell your products and services online:

Have an online presence without an expensive website

Having an expensive website with online shop capabilities is great if you’re a large business. But small businesses who want to start selling online often don’t have the capital to spend on developing a pricey new website.

This is where services that offer ready hosted online shopping capabilities come in. there are many online services out there that allow you to sell your services without it costing you an arm and a leg. Shop around for software or systems that offer ready hosted signup and don’t require you to have your own website.

Automating processes is the way to save money

Using a ready hosted online e-commerce solution can cut the amount of money you send on accounts and admin in half. A great online service will allow you to earn extra money when you clients signup and save you money by automating the invoicing and account recon process. This kind of automation will not only save you money, but leave your clients happy.

Help your client pay you

Selling your products and services online goes hand in hand with the ability for your customers to make payments online for the services they order. There are countless payment gateways out there, most of which supply quality services that allow clients to pay for service and product orders securely and instantly online. Providing your customers with the basic ability to make payment via instant credit card transaction is a necessity and you can augment their payment ability by also allowing payment via wire transfer or debit order from bank account.

The benefits of using an online payment facilitator or online invoicing system are clear. It will allow more clients to sign up for and pay for your products and services. It will allow you to automate recurring or subscription billing and it will allow you to increase your online presence with very little capital investment. Your business only stands to benefit from the use of such a ready hosted serve. So get out there and start selling online!

Your clients can pay for your online orders several payment gateways. Traditionally most businesses offer wire transfer, cheque, cash and direct bank deposit, but there are a host of other payment methods out there that can help you get paid. Let’s take a look at the criteria you should use when selecting a payment gateway for your business:

Geographic location of your customers

Location, location, location. Whether you use a geographically general or specific payment gateway is up to where your clientele resides. If most of your customers are from your one country you can use a local payment gateway. If most of your business is done with international l clients you need to get a gateway that supports this.

What currency will your clients be paying you in? This will help you decide on a payment gateway that’s right for you. Most payment gateways only support billing and collection in certain currencies, make sure the gateway you pick supports the currencies your clients want to make payment with.

Once off vs recurring payment

Do you sell a product or service that the client needs to make one payment for or is the product or service you sell paid for in installments? i.e. comes as part of a recurring subscription that requires multiple payments.

Selling products or services that require a once off payment only means you can look at a payment gateway that allows your clients to make instant secure payments online. This is usually a gateway that facilitates payment via credit card or a service like PayPal that provides instant secure payments for individuals who have accounts with them.

Let’s say that the majority of your clients will need to pay on a recurring basis for the products or services you offer. For example; a fortnightly payment for the gardening maintenance services your business provides. This means you will need to look at a payment gateway that facilitates the submission of recurring debit orders on credit cards and bank accounts. Make sure you use a service that supports collection in the currency your clients use.

Service offering and cost

The final deciding factor should be the overall level of service and costs involved in such an undertaking. Use the criteria below to help you make a final decision:

• Online transactions cost money, to save as much as you can shop around for the gateway that charges you the least in transaction fees. Saving few cents on each transaction can save you thousands per month.
• Reconciliation of your payments is vital so find out what kind of reporting services your gateway offers. Ensure they supply reliable, accurate results of transactions in a timely manner.
• When using some payment gateways you do not need a business or merchant account at a bank to use the service. This is great if you don’t qualify for a business account at a bank. Do your research and find out what you qualify for and what merchant account your gateway requires.
• Check with local and international governing bodies to make sure the payment gateway you want to use complies with their regulations. Regulations in the payment gateway industry are there to protect you, so make sure you make use of the protection they provide.

One of these obstacles can be inefficient and ineffective management of your businesses billing and payment collections. Controlling how you invoice, collect payment and manage client accounts is a vitally important part of any business, but a shockingly often neglected one too. All too often I have come across businesses that neglect or entirely overlook the importance of effective billing policy and management.

Making your business more successful though effective billing policy:

Don’t spend too much

Keeping the cost of operation low is a key concern for anyone wishing to make their small business successful. This is extremely important when it comes to controlling the cost of your invoicing and collection of funds.

The chief way to keep costs to a minimum is to implement tools that facilitate systems automation. There are thousands of creative online and software solution out there that for a minimal cost streamline billing and allow you to keep a smaller staff on the payroll to handle your businesses billing.

It is important to remember that you have choice. Always shop around for payment gateways with the lowest fees. To keep your options open look for a payment facilitator to act as middle man between your business and the payment gateway. Some payment gateways do not allow you to easily export client data and for businesses using more than one gateway centralized management is crucial. A payment facilitator will store client billing data securely on your and the gateways behalf and allow easy switching between gateways.  

Create a positive image

How many times have you received a poorly formatted invoice rife with spelling mistakes, missing fields or incorrect details? What does that make you think of the business issuing the invoice? Poorly formatted, unprofessional invoices reflect negatively on the products and services you deliver. This way of creating a negative impression of your level of service is just as easy to prevent as it is perpetrate.

Switching out 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 businesses success. Invest in software or an online service designed to issue professionally formatted invoices. And even then remember to always ensure the clients details are correct and check spelling. If you are issuing tax invoices insure all the legally required fields appear correctly on any invoices you issue. Appearing professional inspires trust in your clients.

Payment collection

The more the merrier! Now that you have issued your professionally formatted invoices you need to give your clients the opportunity to pay you. Collecting payment for the products or services you render becomes infinitely easier if you make it simple and easy for your clients to pay. Have as many convenient, functional payment options available to them as possible. To maximize you payment collection ability I recommend having a minimum of three basic methods of payment available to your clients:

- Facilities to process and capture direct or bank deposits as well as electronic funds or wire transfers

- The option for clients to pay via an automated recurring debit order from credit card or bank account

- The ability to accept instant secure payments via credit card

Keep it liquid

In any business it is important to not only monitor paying client accounts, but to control past due and non-paying clients. Controlling bad debit will ensure that your cash flow stays strong and constant. Prevention is better than cure. One of the best ways of handling bad debit is working hard to prevent it in the first place. And you would be surprised how simple this actually is.

The trick is ready access to information and clear, direct communication. Keep your clients informed every step of the way. Issue reminders, payment warning, past due warning and suspension notices. Do so via email and text messages (SMS) in a clear scheduled manner over the course of the client’s repayment. Allow you client the greatest degree of access to their billing information, account balances and required repayment amounts. To help you do this, ensure you have software in place to help you automate and schedule communication with clients.

Be exceptional

What makes you different from your competitors? How you got something to make you stand out from the crowd? Don’t look for the answer in gimmicks or throw away thousands on marketing and promotions. No, providing and quality service or product reliably is the only way to genuinely set yourself apart from the herd.

Limited success can be achieved through gimmicks and aggressive marketing, but this more than often does more damage in the long run than good. Providing a consistent, exception service and quality products are the true way to make vocal positive advocates for your brand. Strive to ensure your level of service meets for clients expectations and then if possible give that little bit extra not only meet their needs, but exceed their expectations.

And there you have it! The tools for making your small business more successful are now in your hands. No time to waste, get focused and start putting these tools to good use!

This page contains a list of over 100(!!) billing systems, online invoicing systems and invoicing software. The page was created last year March, so with the launch of the expanded Billing Blog Network I decided to breath some new life into this page and update the old links and add new ones. I must comment that I was pleasantly surprised by the developments I noted in this industry.

• A move to more secure data storage and secure transactions
• Existing systems expanding payment gateway integration and payment reconciliation
• Great new user-friendly layouts and clean, warm and inviting system designs
• Affordable entry level packages
• Free software updates for leading invoicing software

I also discovered a host of new systems. You can view these in the New Billing Systems article on the Billing Systems blog.

I will systematically be adding and updating comprehensive lists with links for my other blogs too. You can look forward to the following pages to be published within the next few weeks:

• The list of online invoicing systems on the Online Invoicing blog
• The list of invoicing software on the Invoicing Software blog
• The list of payment gateways on the Payment Gateways blog
• The list of merchant accounts on the Merchant Accounts blog

Links and updates will be posted once these great resources become available!

The Billing Blog Network consists of 6 unique blogs each dealing with a specific billing related topic. Find out more about each of our blogs below:

Your first stop on the way to billing bliss. The Billing System blog does what is says on the box. It’s a blog that acts as a resource for anyone wanting to find out more about billing systems. The Billing System blog gives you background information on how to pick a billing system, recommends outstanding billing systems, list all the billing systems out there and reviews new systems and software.

Cutting edge solutions for forward thinking businesses. The Online Invoicing blog is an exclusive resource for information about online invoicing systems. An online invoicing system is a ready hosted service that requires no download or installation of software to use.  To qualify as an online invoicing system the service in question must allow you to generate invoices online and send invoices via email. Read this blog for lists of available systems and recommendations.

Breathing new life into traditional accounting  and invoicing software. The Invoicing Software blog contain information about invoicing software. Invoicing software requires purchase, download and installation. It does not require an internet connection to use and leans more towards the traditional side. This blog provides useful resources for invoicing software, reviews and recommendations.

Value for money services that help you to get paid securely and efficiently. The Payment Gateways blog is jam packed with information about payment gateways and how to use them. View lists of gateways and compare pricing and transaction rates. We will also be focusing on how these gateways integrate with online billing systems and invoicing software and how to make the most of using a management system and payment gateway in combination.

Stash your cash. Move your money. Free your funds. The Merchant Accounts blog contains valuable resources for anyone who uses or wants to use a merchant account. Business owners and freelances can visit the Merchant Accounts blog to get a list of available merchant accounts, their rates and how they compare to each other.