For the first couple of years, you could manage the accounting for your small business without help. Now, you’re like the 60% of businesses that wish they could get paid on time more often!
You could hire a full-time accountant, but a quality accountant will cost a pretty penny. Even hiring a third-party accounting firm seems a bit out of your price range at this point.
So, how can you reduce the billing issues you’re noticing? Keep reading to learn the top 5 common challenges that arise from the billing process.
1. Payment Convenience and Security
One of the most problematic pitfalls is not having a convenient payment method. If your customers have to call in during business hours, you’ll end up with a few people who forget to call in.
If you do offer online payments or other convenient forms of payment, make sure those are secure. Your customers want to know that their billing information is safe from hackers.
2. Too Many Customers
If you have a business model where customers have recurring billing, you may notice that you have an influx of customers. This causes a backup of orders as they come in.
To ease this, you could try to automate some of the billing practices and streamlining the process. Or, you could look for an industry-specific billing solution partner like getbuilt.com to help manage your businesses’ finances.
3. Allowing a Flexible Billing Process
You may have offered your customers a flexible way to pay for more expensive orders. While the customers love that you offer flexible options, it makes keeping track of billing and payments difficult. Forget about trying to keep regular billing cycles!
4. Manual Invoicing Process
Do you have to go in and enter all the invoice information for each order? Doing this leaves room for more errors and takes up valuable time! Instead, use a program that generates invoices for you.
5. Too Many Pricing Options
At first, you added a few more pricing options in response to customer demands. Then you added more and more to accommodate other circumstances. Now, you have a whole page of different billing plan options customers can choose from!
It may seem difficult and some customers may balk, but it’s worth it for you to cut back a little on the pricing options. See if there are any ways to combine options so you have flexibility without overdoing it.
With Great Billing Challenges Comes Great Opportunity
If you have the willpower, you can learn to manage your accounts receivable. Try taking accounting classes for other small business owners.
Once you get the hang of watching for these potential pitfalls, you’ll find your billing goes a bit smoother. But, keep in mind that you will need to hire someone as the business grows.
We hope you enjoyed reading this article and that you learned about the most common challenges that arise from the billing process. If you’re looking for more helpful articles about news, technology, lifestyles, and much more, check out the rest of our blog today!
