The Green Industry's Resource Center

GSO LAWNEN4CER · #21 01-05-2013, 12:03 AM

@ Patriots services good points also.But by the time I'm at the 40 customers mark.I will have credit card #'s on file. They will be billed the day after services. I'm not gonna play the waiting game for services rendered.No way now how! That bill every month is old school thinking.In the day of Card readers for I pads/Phones/paypal ect. Technology is leaving your guys behind!

Patriot Services · #22 01-05-2013, 08:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GSO LAWNEN4CER

@ Patriots services good points also.But by the time I'm at the 40 customers mark.I will have credit card #'s on file. They will be billed the day after services. I'm not gonna play the waiting game for services rendered.No way now how! That bill every month is old school thinking.In the day of Card readers for I pads/Phones/paypal ect. Technology is leaving your guys behind!

Who is waiting? As of this morning all 286 customers paid for January. I have all the modern tech to give my people the options on paying. Not everybody has or uses credit cards. If you start dictating payment methods you will lose customers. Remember card swipes cost money as well. Monthly billing is hardly old school in this and many other industrys. As for the one time service, I answered that question.
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KeystoneLawn&Landscaping · #23 01-05-2013, 11:19 AM

Patriot Services answers are right on! As for credit cards. At this point in our industry, almost all customers don't think about using them for our services. I will be one of the last to accept them. I don't want to pay someone for working for them, especially the bonus cards where it cost the vendor more.

Patriot Services · #24 01-05-2013, 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mowin4Dollas

I have a feeling you have to cater to the type of costumer that you are servicing for. If I have a family that is on vacation, and need lawn maintenance while they are gone, I will need payment before they leave. If I have a regular weekly customer they may be billed on a monthly basis. If I have a weekly customer, but they are not as quick to pay as my others I can work out a plan for them. I think a big thing here on how to bill is just learning how to deal with people.... Maybe I'm wrong. You guys have really helped me out! Thanks a TON!

You've already realized a very important aspect of this field. Customer relations is just as important as doing a good job on the property. If you can't be flexible how can you expect your customers to be?

scotts lawn care · #25 01-05-2013, 03:04 PM

I have cc Payment option for my customers with - Square - on my droid phone. So far very few of them have cared to pay with there CC.

Darryl G · #26 01-05-2013, 03:18 PM

I've always billed monthly with Quickbooks for maintenance services at the beginning of the month following the month that services were performed, on a Net 15 day basis. If I do a significant amount of extras I will sometimes send a bill out for all services performed up to including those extras. One-time customers are treated differently...generally half due before I'll even schedule it and half at completion. I have recently changed things a little and started sending out invoices after the last cut of the billing period, especially for my bi-weekly accounts. I don't want to be bothered trying to collect with each service and have to deal with the additional administrative work. I like the idea of advance billing but I don't always know what the charge will be for any given month. I did try billing all accounts "due on receipt" one year and that actually slowed payment.

cpllawncare · #27 01-05-2013, 11:24 PM

Darryl, I bill "due on receipt" in quickbooks also, how did that slow your payments? I guess I'm the only one that does it this way but we bill twice a month, A-M on the 15th N-Z the last day of the month. I've also added a collection agency to the system for this season, at 30 days past due they get turned over. I didn't have a lot of problems last year but the three no pays I did have really made me mad, I consider it stealing! So I wanted to get a system in place for ANY future problems, this is one area of the business I have very little tolerance for.

GSO LAWNEN4CER · #28 01-06-2013, 01:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patriot Services

Who is waiting? As of this morning all 286 customers paid for January. I have all the modern tech to give my people the options on paying. Not everybody has or uses credit cards. If you start dictating payment methods you will lose customers. Remember card swipes cost money as well. Monthly billing is hardly old school in this and many other industrys. As for the one time service, I answered that question.
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You as the business owner have all rights to dictate how you will recieve payment. Its YOUR business. Some businesses will only take cash. Look at pizza places.Most wont take a check anymore,its either cash/debit/credit. So your point on that is wrong. And 2.75% is nothing to loose sleep over on a card swipe.

You guys have every right to bill as you wish.I on the other hand choose to use technology as tool for my business. The other day I took a pic of a check and made a deposit. The tech is out there its up to you if you want to use it or not.

Darryl G · #29 01-06-2013, 01:29 AM

I think the problem was that when I billed due on receipt the due date is the same as the invoice date. For those that pay as soon as they get my invoice, no problem. But for those that set it aside, I think they tend to give themselves longer than 15 days to pay it, since most billing cycles are 30 days. The reason I had changed to due on receipt was that I had my language saying that finance charges would be applied on invoices over 30 days late, but since they weren't due for 15 days, my customers could wait 45 days to pay me without consequences. I wanted it down to 30 days so changed to due on receipt. I have since gone back to net 15 but defined late as 30 days after invoice date. It's late...hope I explained that properly.

Patriot Services · #30 01-06-2013, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GSO LAWNEN4CER

You as the business owner have all rights to dictate how you will recieve payment. Its YOUR business. Some businesses will only take cash. Look at pizza places.Most wont take a check anymore,its either cash/debit/credit. So your point on that is wrong. And 2.75% is nothing to loose sleep over on a card swipe.

You guys have every right to bill as you wish.I on the other hand choose to use technology as tool for my business. The other day I took a pic of a check and made a deposit. The tech is out there its up to you if you want to use it or not.

You stated you have less than 40 customers. We are not exactly on the same level of play here. If you choose to limit the options a customer has to pay you will lose business because of it. Cash, check , paypal, cc is all accepted by me. Due date is always the first. I am usually paid before we even do the first service of the month. How that is wrong I don't know. If you think everybody will accept your "card on file terms" you will find out for yourself that is easier said than done. People want options , if you don't offer them, they will find somebody that does.
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