Digital Transformation in the field services industry is booming rapidly. But not all businesses enjoy financial success despite having streamlined digital processes as well as full order books. 60% the field service businesses face regular cashflow problems and it has become one of the top 3 causes of stress for services businesses worldwide.
Businesses report that 27% of their invoice payments are either late or require multiple follow-ups, contributing greatly to their cashflow issues. Despite all the dedicated efforts toward collecting outstanding payments, nearly two-thirds of business owners find it difficult to keep track of the amount of cash coming into their businesses monthly and how much they are still owed from their customers.
While most professionals in the services industry didn’t get into the field because they enjoy tracking invoices and payments, it is unavoidable, especially when you’re trying to grow. However, payment management doesn’t have to take as much time as it once did.
Now, businesses have access to advanced tools – like Zuper’s unified payment features – that reform invoice and payment management. A unified payment system allows technicians to spend more time serving customers without diminishing cash flow..
1. Track cash flow with real-time payment information
What’s one thing that separates a healthy service business from its competitors?
Accurately tracked cash flow. Understanding exactly how much accessible cash you have creates a protective barrier for your business.
Unknown cash flow cripples business growth. If you don’t know if you have enough resources on hand to settle your debts or explore new opportunities, growth remains stagnant – or worse – you fall behind.
Zuper makes it easy to track your cash flow with real-time payment information. With real-time payment details, you always know how much is available for:
- Payroll
- New assets and inventory
- Vendor payments
- Advertising
- Recurring monthly expenses
Instead of spending hours tracking your cash flow before settling your debts every month, you’ll already know your account standing and can keep your focus on delivering the best service.
Additionally, if you notice your cash flow isn’t where it should be, you’ll be able to quickly identify current outstanding invoices with Zuper’s live-status payment updates.
2. Spot unpaid invoices through payment status live updates
When business picks up, unpaid invoices start to fall through the cracks. At that moment, you’re too busy focusing on serving customers and keeping projects progressing to worry about chasing down payments.
With more service requests filing in daily, invoice statuses fade to the back of your mind. Eventually, though, your expenses start to outweigh the money coming in, and you realize you need cash—and fast.
The feast-and-famine mode of neglecting and then hastily collecting payments could all be avoided if you had an easier way to identify outstanding invoices.
That’s why Zuper has live-updated payment statuses for every invoice, so you no longer have to dig to determine if an invoice is paid or unpaid. Quick-view invoice statuses prevent you from losing track of invoices and improve the speed of payments so that your team keeps their focus on new projects—without falling behind on collecting payments for the projects you’ve already completed.
3. Recall payment records quickly with advanced filtering
Outdated file management systems make it next to impossible to find the documents you need without giving up a significant amount of time. You might know where the document is, but for any recurring customer, there are numerous documents to sift through before you find what you need.
But when it’s time to reconcile invoices or even pull up an old invoice for a customer, you don’t want to spend hours sitting through a stack – whether paper or digital – trying to find what you’re looking for.
With advanced filtering, you can find the exact invoice you’re looking for in seconds.
You simply select the applicable filters to narrow your search and select your desired document—eliminating the headache of reviewing multiple files to find what you need and increasing productivity.
Zuper’s advanced record filtering takes what used to be an unnecessarily time-consuming chore and makes it conveniently simple—including when you get a request to send a customer an invoice receipt.
4. Send receipts notifying customers of successful payments
While paper receipts are rapidly becoming a thing of the past, many customers still take comfort in payment confirmations. It helps them remember exactly what they’re paying for and ensures they don’t unknowingly have any pending debt that might sneak up on them after they thought they took care of it.
Sending receipts to your customers helps keep everyone on the same page, so there’s no question about the payment status.
There’s no more wasting time answering customer inquiries on whether their payments were processed or not.
And no more printing receipts and sending them by mail without any way to validate that the customer received them.
Instead, you and your customers can recall invoice receipts in seconds. Plus, if your customer accidentally deletes the receipt, you can resend it in just a few clicks—without additional time wasted on producing a new paper copy.
With Zuper, there’s no sifting through stacks of folders or combing through loosely organized digital files that are taking space on your hard drive. Zuper understands that advanced digital tools allow businesses to improve operational efficiency. By introducing a unified payment system to your service business, you not only upgrade your customer experience but you boost productivity and have more control over your accounting processes.
If you’re ready to discover what Zuper’s unified payment tools can do for your business, sign up for your free trial today.
