contractor success Next Generation Accounts Receivable Integrating your accounts receivable practices into your company brand can make for better customer service and quicker payments. By: David Shapiro MANAGEMENT Cleaning and maintenance businesses need to manage their bottom line assert-ively in the current economy. However, a recent survey reveals many small businesses are missing the boat in some areas of their accounts receivable practice. Is your business one of the 43 percent of small enterprises in need of a cash man-agement makeover? Western Union Payments’ inaugural Small Business Barometer found in the fourth quar-ter of 2011 that 43 percent of the businesses surveyed reported falling behind on their invoicing at least every few months. Another 37 percent cited managing past-due invoices as the worst of their business responsibilities, and 24 percent worried about the risk of ruining a client relationship through the collections process. In brief, a perfect storm of client rela-tionship concerns and less-than-effective receivables collection processes. If you see your business in these statis-tics, you shouldn’t feel overwhelmed. While invoicing and cash management is critical to any business success — accord-ing to Dun & Bradstreet, a leading pro-vider of credit, marketing and purchasing information and receivables management services, 90 percent of business failures are due to poor cash management — there are ample tools and simple-to-implement tips that make this area of business easier to navigate. In particular, the consumer’s preference for web-based payments translates to C Web-based payment solutions can raise the bar of professionalism and expedite the sometimes daunting task of getting paid. streamlined, cost-effective processing that can also help build relationships. The real key to a cleanly implemented accounts receivable and cash management process is simple: Deploy an automated receivable solution that is easy for your busi-ness and convenient for your customers. The following tips will help you streamline your business’ accounts receivable practice: ■ Make it easy for your customers Providing a web-based resource, such as an online payments channel, will help to increase the likelihood of on-time payments. The important thing is to get paid as quickly and fully as possible by giving your customer an easy, convenient process that allows them to pay you in a way that meets their needs as well as yours. Web-based payment solutions offer any-time-anywhere convenience for the cus-tomer and often reduce man hours involved in processing and tracking payments. Convenient invoice processing is also a good customer service strategy and can often increase the amount of positive time your client spends on your website learn-ing about your company — think of this as “stickiness.” This is especially true for regular custom-ers. ■ Make it easy for you The Western Union Payments Small Business Barometer found that 26 percent of small business owners use no accounting system. Talk about doing it the hard way. Make your life easier and consider auto-mating the process. Web-based payment solutions streamline many of the processes entrepreneurs have stumbled over in the past. Electronic invoicing and online payment acceptance are tools that can help to reduce late payments, shortening your payment cycles and freeing up your valuable busi-ness time for other pursuits. Look for a system that allows you to create a reporting schedule and update it regu-larly with an integrated customer relationship 32 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • July 2012
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