Collaborate on Billing Formats for Clients for Small Businesses with Ease Using airSlate SignNow

Billing formats for clients for small businesses

no one likes chasing clients for payments it can be timec consuming frustrating and a little bit awkward but at the same time timely payments are the lifeblood of agencies as well as B2B service businesses if you want to get paid on time and keep your clients happy you need to have an effective building process and building software in place such as service provider Pro there's no one siiz fits all solution when it comes to building your clients however here are some key points to consider that will help you build a perfect system for you and your agency this might be brainer but it's important to have all of your ducks in a row before you start billing your clients that means having a clear understanding of what has already been done what's yet to be done and what deliverables are associated with each project if you're not organized then it's very difficult to keep track of what needs to be invoiced and when this can lead to delay in payments and even undercharging or overcharging your clients with the productized business model the advantage is your deliverables are clear upfront clients know exactly what they're getting based on your pricing page and the detailed explanation for each service communication is key when it comes to building your clients you need to keep them in the loop on what has been done what's yet to be done and when they should expect an invoice if there are any changes to the scope of work or deliverables then you also need to communicate this information with the client so that they're aware and can approve them if necessary billing is not a one- siiz fits-all process what works for one client might not work for the other you need to be flexible and adaptable in your approach and be willing to try different things until you find what works best for each each individual client above all else you need to be professional when billing your clients you need to be prompt polite and organized in all of your communication this also means being transparent about your fees and charges and not trying to hide anything this is especially important if you're a consultant it's not very easy to communicate your value to your clients if you have just one line item on your invoice that says Consulting Services be clear and split up your services into different line items so the client knows what they're paying for there are a number of great tools out there to help you with client bilding from client invoicing software to time tracking apps there are plenty of options to choose from for example with SB you can host intuitive checkouts complete with intake forms and order forms on any subdomain of your website that means that you can create a payment system that's easy for your clients to navigate and gets you paid on time best of all no more chasing clients for payments the important thing is to find the right tool for your needs there's no point trying to integrate payments into a website without developer knowledge instead use a software that needs L supports your payment Gateway of choice there are a few different approaches that you can take when building your clients the key is to find the right approach for your business as well as for each individual client so let's discuss some of these approaches with per project billing you build your clients for each project or engagement separately this is a really good option if you have clearly defined projects with well-defined deliverables with recurring billing you Bild your client a fixed monthly fee in exchange for a fixed am amount of work to be done each month this is a good option if you have ongoing projects or need to guarantee a certain amount of income each month s Works especially well for agencies with recurring billing models agencies can set variable billing frequencies trial periods and prices setup fees and more to streamline this process for them with time based building you build your client for the actual amount of time you spend working on a project this is really good for open-ended projects or if you need to keep track of your time for bilding purposes with value based building you build your client based on the value of the work that you do rather than how long it took you to do it this is a good option if you feel confident in your ability to deliver results and want to be paid for those results rather than the time you spend with Milestone based billing you build your clients for each Milestone that is achieved or deliverable that is completed this is a good option if you have clearly defined projects with clear deliverables there are a number of invoicing softwares available both offline and on online this is the easiest way to create and send invoices and also the most professional looking one with SB invoices are automatically generated with each payment that the client makes whether they're paying for an order in full or on a milestone basis plus these invoices can be accessed from their personal client portal and no more sifting through emails you can also manually create invoices for a client if you need to charge them for work outside of your product as service for a oneoff project or any other scenarios if you don't want to use a dedicated invoice software you can always create your invoices with a word processor or a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel or word this is a more DIY approach but it's perfectly acceptable and free many word processors and spreadsheet programs have templates for these built into them like Microsoft Word and Excel however you can build your own template from scratch if you'd like there are a number of online invoicing services that you can use to create and send invoices without having to download anything onto your computer this is a good option if you want the convenience of using online invoicing but don't want to pay for dedicated software when choosing the service keep in mind that it needs to be compatible with the tax for small business software that you're already using if you don't have the time or inclination to create and send your own invoices you can always hire a freelancer or a virtual assistant to do this for you this is of course going to be the most expensive approach but it's also the most hands-off approach no matter which method you choose to create and send your invoices there are a few key things that should be included always make sure to include your business name business address your tax registration number your phone number and your email address on the invoice if you have a vat ID make sure to include that as well make sure to include the client's name their business address their contact information and their tax ID if available be sure to include the date that the invoice was issued this allows your client to know when their invoices are issued and as such when they're due also include the due date on your invoice this will ensure that the client knows when their payments are due and as such can make arrangements to pay you in a timely manner be sure to include a detailed description of the services that you provided on the invoice this allows your client to know what exactly they're paying for and can see your value include the cost of each Service as well as the total for the entire order on the invoice this will ensure that the client knows how much they're being charged for each service and how much is due also don't forget to mention any discounts include your payment terms and conditions on the invoice so your client knows how you expect to be paid and can make relevant Arrangements make sure you include a unique invoice number with every invoice that you send so that you and your client are able to reference these in the future easily if you're sending invoices electronically be sure to include a payment link or Bank details this will allow your clients to easily pay you online or through their bank and can help you get paid faster much of the client information that we just talked about is going to be collected when the client places an order through an order form it will be saved on the customer profile and will be available going forward for manual invoice Creations as well as self-service checkouts by prefilling this information for the client this can be a spreadsheet a fillable client template or a customer portal like SB building your clients can be a pretty tricky business on one hand you don't want to seem like you're constantly chasing after money while on the other hand you don't want to wait for too long to build your clients so as to not risk not getting paid at all so when is the right time to build your clients the answer is of course it's going to depend on the situation if you're working on a longterm project with a client it's going to be best to split it into separate milestones and build them ingly this way you'll get paid for work as you complete it and the client won't have to to worry about dishing out a large amount of money all at once if you're working with a client on a shorter term project however it's best to build the client once the project is completed this way they'll have a chance to review your work and make sure that they're happy with it before having to pay for it no matter what though it's always a good idea to introduce a payment due date on all of your invoices this will remind your clients that they need to pay you and give them a date to work with and if your client still hasn't paid you by the due date don't be afraid to send them payment reminder emails just make sure not to be too pushy as you don't want to alienate your client or damage your relationship with them if you're using service provider Pro you don't have to worry about reminders you can decide how many daily reminders you'd like to send your client automatically for their unpaid invoices in short biding your clients doesn't have to be complicated with the right tools at hand the entire process can be almost fully automated with SB you can easily create and send invoices track payments and send reminders all with just a few clicks plus our payment processing system makes it easy for your clients to to pay you no matter where they are in the world check out SB via the link down below and thank you so much for watching [Music]