sending invoices

[RedWingsDet]

i am sick of send out 100s of invoices per month. printing, folding, stuffing, licking and stamping gets old quick. Is there any simple way to do this other than hiring a secretary?

[StBalor]

Don't know if you want to do it this way, but the last cut of the month or the clients that pay per cut i just stick it in there door before i leave. Now i have a few that own homes that i cut but live out of state, those i have to mail.

[d&rlawncare]

Tru-Green,Pure-Green leave your invoices at the door in a plastic baggie. I have been looking for those plastic bags but have not been able to find any. Does anyone know were you can get blank ones?

[z_clark]

Do you run quick books? They have a service that prints and mails your statements.

Billing by credit card is another option. The 2.75% processing fee more than pays for itself in time savings and ensures you get paid on time.

[matt spinniken]

Some of my customers like getting thier bills through email.

[MOW PRO LAWN SERVICE]

Thatz what we do leave on the door or where ever,stamps eat into your profit.

[Runner]

Tru-Green,Pure-Green leave your invoices at the door in a plastic baggie. I have been looking for those plastic bags but have not been able to find any. Does anyone know were you can get blank ones?

Look up Blackburn Flag Co., and they have about the best price on the. We used to get them through RND Signs, but they are almost twice as much.

[1cooltreeguy]

I began asking the customers if I can e-mail their invoice out and none have said no. It is quick, paperless and stampless. Good Luck

[stumpslawncare]

email, other than that good old folding.

[Fantasy Lawns]

If your stuffing 100's of invoices that's a good thing

I don't like leaving em @ the door .... but I did buy a letter folder couple years ago on eBay ... folds em up in just minutes

[Soupy]

I use envelope moistener with adhesive for sealing the envelopes. Better then licking, & works faster then the wet sponge. Self adhesive stamps too.

Everyone is setup on yearly billing with equal monthly payments. I just hit generate invoices in Gopher and the laser printer kicks them out fast. The only real effort is folding, but as Fantasy mentioned you can get folders (I heading over to Ebay).

Oh, use perforated paper for the remittance stub. You can get all different size perforations, or go to a local printer with a invoice and have them make you a bunch that match the invoice.

[NELawnCare]

Do you run quick books? They have a service that prints and mails your statements.

Billing by credit card is another option. The 2.75% processing fee more than pays for itself in time savings and ensures you get paid on time.

I use it, and love it. And it's a free service (QB emailing system).

[stevesmowing]

I use quick books. When you enter all of the customers in, enter their e-mail as well if they have one. There is a button that sends out all invoices via e-mail. It takes the computer some time to do it. I click the button and walk away and do something else. When I get back it has sent out 40 invoices. I still have about 60 that I send out by hand though. This year my goal is to get everyone on e-mail. I know its not possible as some people do not have e-mail but it is a time and money saver thats for sure.

[BSDeality]

since most of my clients come from my website (through searches and referrals) they all have email addresses. I have yet to run into a client in the last 2 years that I cannot email an invoice to. I used to mail about 40 invoices a month, last year I was mailing about 8 per month. Hope to get it down to none this year if possible.

[mrusk]

If you can not email them this is what i would do.

First have envlopes made with your logo/address on. Get the envlopes with the window. Buy a letter folder. Then buy one of those moisture dispensers.

Best way to deal with it.

[stevesmowing]

If you can not email them this is what i would do.

First have envlopes made with your logo/address on. Get the envlopes with the window. Buy a letter folder. Then buy one of those moisture dispensers.

Best way to deal with it.

they make self seal envelopes that you pull a strip off and then its sticky. If you could get those with a window in them and then even just use a stamp for your return address.

[Critical Care]

I use QB for my bookkeeping, but use Excel for my invoicing. Invoices are set up on Excel where charges for labor and materials are automatically calculated on a spreadsheet and then sent to an invoice for printing. Envelopes are printed from Word, where addresses are mail merged from a client database. It all is pretty neat, but even with so much info being done automatically the whole process can take a while. The client database has to be maintained, since people come and go, move, or whatever. And material prices are always changing as well.

The easiest route would be to have a fixed monthly rate, regardless of what materials you use, or work you do. People would know what they owe, and when their payments are due. Simple, but is it best for business?

[BSDeality]

critical care, you have the best accounting software in the world for small business, yet you're using a laundry-list process to invoice/mail them? I setup my invoices on QB to fit in a two window envelope. I don't have to print anything on my envelopes that way. the right invoices always goes with the right envelope this way. I know for a fact that mixups happen. I did it twice, two months in a row a few years ago with two of my clients. That was embarrassing! You don't have to do any double entry either. its that much less confusing and easier to go back and look at things at the end of the year.

just my $.02

[Critical Care]

BSDeality, I know what you're saying. I'm an old dog, but I'm willing to learn new tricks. However in the case of QB, I haven't been able to set it up where it automatically inputs the items and materials used, along with their prices, etc. It seems as if in order to use QB, I would have to totally change how clients are billed, and that worries me.

The mixups that you talk about have always worried me, but fortunately that hasn't happened. The two window envelope is a good idea, whether a person uses QB, or whatever.

[GELAWNS]

We also utilize QuickBooks for invoicing. Email all we can for Residential and Fax all Commercial accounts. The ones that we mail, are inserted in a window envelope. Crew members make good lickers and stampers while riding in the truck. Come customers have set us up under their On-line Banking Auto-Pay and we automatically get a check without sending an invoice.

[NewHorizon's Land]

Buy envelopes that are printed with your information and a window and get them pre-stamped too. Talk to a local print shop and they should be able to hook you up.

[Duekster]

I set up the Quickbook payment service and people can pay on-line. Real nice. E-Mail the invoice, they can log on and review their accounts and pay you too. Nice feature.

[ChadsLawn]

I use gorundskeeper to do all my buiz stuff.. The I do it the old fasion way. I have a online invoicing setup, but most of my customers still dont trust the internet.