Successful home service businesses are paid on time, every time. But where do you start? The best way to achieve timely payments is to create invoices for home services that fulfill every communication need of your customer and your business. Here’s a few tips to help you achieve the perfect invoice for your home services business.
Tip #1: Use a standardized, professionally-branded invoice template.
Back-of-the-napkin deals are good in theory and in Hollywood movies, but having a professional look and feel to your invoice is starting to become a requirement for doing good business in today’s digital age. Each invoice you send should have consistent formatting. Invoices should also be branded. Branding an invoice with your logo and business information allows your customer to immediately associate the invoice with you and the work you’ve done. This helps lead to more paid invoices and more money in your pocket.
Your branded invoice template should have three sections:
- The top section would include your logo, business contact information and customer contact information.
- The middle section should include itemized information of the work that is being invoiced for. If possible, it’s best to break the price down for each line item, including base price and any additional fees or taxes that are being applied.
- The bottom section should include an easy–to-identify “Amount Due” line and payment terms. After all, invoices are about one thing: getting paid.
Tip #2: Include the right information on your invoice template.
When creating an invoice for home services, be sure to include every bit of information that a customer may want to see. Taking the extra time to include:
- Your business name, your name, address, phone number, and email
- The customer’s name, address, phone number, and email
- An itemized detailed list of work, with well-laid-out subtotals
- An easy to identify “Amount Due” line
- Payment terms that include what types of payments are accepted and how they are accepted
Including all this information on your business invoices will save time and effort in the long run. There will be no more phone calls questioning who this came from, the amount they owe or the date they owe it by.
While including all this detail each and every time seems like a ton of work, building reusable templates for sending different types of invoices turns the tedious work into a smooth workflow. A software system like Project 2 Payment will automatically format and pre-fill invoices for you with you and your customers’ information. Plus, Project 2 Payment automatically provides a detailed breakdown of your itemized work based on the items you added to the project and the total amount due, and it allows the user to pay immediately upon reception of the invoice to their email. The entire goal of the invoice is to get paid as soon as possible, and home services invoicing software will help you achieve that goal easier and faster.
Tip #3: Contact your clients in the way that’s most accessible to them.
Gone are the days of printing, stuffing envelopes, slapping stamps and dropping mail at the post office: The most efficient way to send an invoice is through email. Customers are much more likely to pay, and pay on time, if they receive the invoice directly to their phone, tablet, or computer. To make sure you get paid right away, it’s also important to give customers as many ways as possible to pay you for your work.
While many home services professionals prefer cash or paper check since it’s most familiar to them, paper systems are becoming less and less feasible in the modern professional market. The average person doesn’t carry cash, and most people 20 years and under have never even seen a paper check. Finding a way to allow for a multitude of payment options will make your customers happy, allow for repeat business, and (most importantly) get you paid.
Tip #4: Don’t forget to follow up until you’re paid.
The most important thing about sending an invoice is receiving it back with payment for the work done. Setting up monthly, weekly or even daily reminders to check and make sure that you’ve been paid for invoices can majorly change the profitability of your business, improve cash flow, and increase your ability to take on new projects.
Project 2 Payment can help!
Setting up your business for success with back-office tasks can seem like a bear. How can an owner and operator of a home services business stay on top of all these things while also performing the actual task that brings in the money? There simply are not enough hours in a day, and that’s where Project 2 Payment can help. Our easy-to-use software can get you up and running with minimal training. You can manage projects and customers and send out professional, detailed invoices with multiple payment options in a matter of days after signing up.
Our product is built for you by people who truly care about saving you time and money. Invoices are automatically branded with your logo and business information, so you can look organized and professional without any extra effort. Each invoice is automatically created and formatted for you with the information you select in our easy-to-use invoice creation workflow. Invoices are emailed directly to your customer instantly, with no more waiting two days for standard snail mail services to deliver to the customer’s residence. Project 2 Payment also allows customers to pay instantly upon receipt of an invoice with payment options including card, eCheck or even old-school paper cash or paper check, if on-site. This removes the “I’ll do it later” excuse from the equation and can consistently lead to more on-time payments. And if it doesn’t? Project 2 Payment’s automated invoice reminders will continue to re-send the invoice until your work has been paid for.
Interested in having Project 2 Payment help make your invoicing process simpler and more effective?
