I would like to share my experience on invoicing. After spending a lot of time thinking I have finally bought a program which helps to create and send invoices. Although it took several hours to install everything it was an interesting process during which I learned a lot of new things.
The first step was to provide my company data. Then I added my customers to the invoicing software database so they would be readily available when I create invoices. It took quite a lot of time, especially since I have a lot of customers. The final step was to enter all my products into the program. My company sells computers and computer accessories/peripherals.
Can you imagine how many items I had to integrate into the invoicing software? It took almost a whole day! But it was worth it - now I can create new invoices with a couple of clicks of the mouse.
After creating and sending my invoices the next step was registering payments. When I received a payment to my bank account, I immediately marked the invoice as paid. This helped me to see which invoices are paid and which are overdue. Invoice status is a really helpful feature. My invoicing software is quite smart, so it sends out reminders to the customers if the invoice is overdue. I don't even need to trace non-payers as it is happening automatically.
The program also has a possibility to add late fees and other penalties automatically. Usually I let the system send out a first reminder without late fees, but if the invoice isn't paid within three days after the reminder, late fees are added. I feel that this provides a perfect balance between customer service (by not slapping the customers with a fee immediately) and money management (by not losing revenue from late payers).
Another feature I really like is the possibility to create recurring invoices. I have a couple of clients that purchase a certain amount of accessories each month (mostly printer cartridges). The number is fixed, meaning that the invoices look the same each month. Recurring invoices allow me to make one invoices, and then the system automatically invoices the client each month. This is of course time-saving, since I do not have to do anything except make sure that the goods are delivered on time.
I can conclude that invoicing software is a really indispensable thing for any business and I truly recommend it to everyone who has a smaller or medium-sized business (I assume that this invoicing software might be too small for a huge corporation).
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