When running a small business, providing the best customer service experience possible is essential to becoming successful. You need to know that they’re happy and are likely to leave a good review or pass on your details by word of mouth with confidence. To do this you need to focus on many different areas, one of these areas includes how you accept payments and how you can make it easier for your customers to make payments that are required. Often it can be seen as a difficult task to accommodate your customer needs when it comes to paying their invoices, however, there are steps that you can put into place to make sure it’s a smooth-running process for both parties.
Let’s have a look at some of the considerations you should be making:
How Do You Initiate The Payment Process?
Often confusion and surprise can arise when it comes to payments with customers. One of the biggest reasons for conflict or invoices not being paid is often because there isn’t a decent communication line in place and the initiation for the payment isn’t pleasant nor polite. It’s best if you can give your customers a good idea of what they’re going to need to pay as far in advance as possible, you should also be making them aware of when you expect the payment to be made. This way there aren’t any nasty surprises for either side. In general, it’s good practice to provide a quote before any work or products are provided and then thirty days should be given for an invoice to be paid. Completing work and then requesting funds on the same day doesn’t give a good impression and risks you not receiving the payment. If you expect to receive payment on the day of any work being completed you should let your customer know in advance.
How Do You Accept Payments?
Another problem that arises when you are dealing with payments, is the way you allow your customers to pay. You need to set clear guidelines for all your customers and inform them of all the methods you accept. Do you use an online checks service that allows them to pay by check? Do you expect to be paid in cash? Or do you have a card machine so they can pay with their card of choice? Whichever method you use you need to let your customers know so that they can prepare to make payment in a good time. You have to think that customers need to plan just as much as you, especially if it’s for a large amount. For large amounts of cash, people like to pay via check or have to arrange a visit to a bank branch to withdraw the correct amount fo money. Making sure your customers are aware of all their options means that you have a higher chance of having invoices paid on time and in full.
These are just a few of the ways that you help your payments easier for your customers. Do you have any other methods that will help? Please share them in the comments below.
