Create an Efficient Landscaping Invoice for it Seamlessly

Landscaping invoice for IT

what software are you using to invoice your clients in today's video we're going to talk about just that [Music] what's the difference between an estimate a work order and an invoice that's exactly what we're going to talk about in this video what's up this is keith kelvis with the untrapped podcast and keithkelphis.com and in today's video we're going to talk about estimates work orders and invoices and why we use jabber to accomplish this in my home service business if you're looking for a great software to run your business on there's a ton of great options out there and jobber is one of them i'll put a link below whether you're just looking for a basic invoicing software or a full-on comprehensive estimating booking scheduling work order billing and money collecting software jabber is a great option we use jobber in my landscaping and window cleaning business but in this video i want to discuss the difference between an estimate a work order and an invoice and why all three are completely different things this is a question that i had when i first started my service business several years ago see when i first got started i was using a notepad and a pen from the dollar store that got old really quick so then i called up my local print shop and had them create a paper carbon copy work order invoice you know the one where you peel off the yellow copy and give the white copy to your customer where do you peel off the white copy and get the yellow copy to your customer let me know in the comments below but it was very confusing and i fell behind because i wasn't tracking the numbers in my business and then when i finally got a basic spreadsheet software i was redundantly copying all of the information from the work orders and then putting them into the spreadsheet software it was a mess so then i downloaded a cheap invoicing app from the app store on my tablet and then used that for about a year things got even worse because i still wasn't tracking my business i finally got quick books i want to talk about how we're in 2015 we're not in 1980 anymore we're in a completely digital information economy and the internet is everything so i really would like to encourage you to utilize technology to the fullest use your smartphone a tablet a laptop pretty much everything you do on a smartphone now and if you like a small iphone then you can have an ipad but whatever it is technology is amazing so when you give a customer a quote you can give them a digital estimate a digital quote with all types of different services like invoice to go quickbooks uh like jobber and service autopilot all right so here's how you do invoices or paperwork digitally with quickbooks mobile and things got a lot better because now i was actually able to invoice clients and track the numbers in my business but even though quickbooks is a great software it still didn't allow me to track everything that i needed in order to make important decisions in my business what i required was a full stack solution but here's the funny part at the time i didn't even know that software existed that would allow me to start seeing all the blind spots that were in my business i didn't know how to even ask the right questions i was embarrassed because i realized that i was a late bloomer i had some friends that were in the green industry that were able to create marketing budgets and forecast projections and make smart decisions in their businesses because they were tracking their metrics and data they would talk about things like kpis i felt silly because i thought that they were staying up all night and working harder than i was in order to accumulate all of this data but what i learned is that they were just tracking the data day by day and then using super cool easy to use advanced software programs to come to these conclusions they were leveraging software to do the heavy lifting for them so i dove in and i tried a few different crms customer relationship management software programs and i learned there's a quite a few of them out there some of these programs are simple and easy to use and lack features while others are incredibly complex and have so many features that it's overwhelming usually very large companies with multiple operations require these type of complex programs although quickbooks works great for tracking finances and billing for running a service business in 2020 what i mean is that today's successful small businesses that interact with a lot of clients on a b2c basis require a new marketing approach that includes a high touch or multi-touch process this requires an automated communication software that's incredibly user friendly and that anybody can learn how to use on the go this is exactly what jobber provides number one proposals when you want to send your prospective client a detailed quote proposing an offer to provide your services jabber allows you to do this easily directly from your browser or by downloading the app from the app store onto your mobile device i really like how you can attach important documents like your proof of insurance and licensing along with the quote so your customers can see that they're working with a legitimate outfit your customers also have the option to formally accept your proposal and verify their approval remotely with a digital signature all they have to do is open the estimate from within their email and then sign with their fingertip then you'll get notified that your customer wants to proceed with the work number two work orders work orders are an important step in the process of creating organized communication see once the customer accepts your proposal you then follow up by emailing texting or calling them and giving them options for a date to start the work or you can include a start date directly within the proposal whether you agreed on it beforehand or not once both parties agree you then convert the estimate over to a work order a work order is basically what it says in order to do the work a work order looks almost identical to a quote it has line items materials description of work a project outline property address and a person or crew that it gets assigned to except depending on whose eyeballs are viewing it it may or may not include the prices or financial information [Music] there you have it a work order can be printed alongside other work orders and clip to a clipboard or can be assigned to a crew as pending work directly to your employees smartphones from within the jobber app they would have their own version of the jobber app too it gets better once the crew or you if you're a solopreneur receives the work order they can head to work with a directive in place they can clock in or clock out directly in the app but once the work is completed all they or you have to do is mark the job as completed and with the click of a button now the work order is ready to be converted into an invoice which brings us to number three invoicing jabber's invoicing system is so simple right from within the jabber app you can send your customers an invoice directly attached to an email and send it off there's also an option to cc yourself or someone on your team to be notified when the invoice has been sent number four jabber payments inside of the invoice there's also an option for your customers to pay their bill with a credit or debit card immediately right from within the app all they have to do is click a button and make a secure payment and they get their receipt automatically on your end you connect your bank account to jobber and the money auto deposits into your account within a few days your clients can also access a payment portal and go online to see transaction history and other billing stuff this and much more are all options that help you inexpensively automate your home service business for real so in conclusion we use jobber in my business i love it it's easy it's simple it works great there's a ton of other options out there i got it directly on my phone we got it on the laptop and i run my whole business off of it and we send customers invoices collect payment click a button it notifies the customer that we're on our way you can submit documents it's just a really good app it works great if you want a free trial of jobber if you want a free trial of jabber click the link in the description below this video and with that being said i'll see you in the next video