landscaping-billing-softwareBilling is a fundamental process of your landscaping business. That’s because billing is your “bridge to cash flow,” making it an essential process that allows you to sustain your operations.

Despite the importance of billing, it’s a process that can go awry for many different reasons—and that’s a big deal. Billing blunders can cost your business profit and should be addressed seriously. The last thing that you want to do is leave money on the table due to a billing mistake that could have been prevented.

Even so, you might feel as though you’re struggling to find a good system that prevents you (or your staff) from making these errors in the first place. It might feel like a hopeless cycle. You know billing mistakes are being made but you can’t seem to put a stop to them.

But have hope because there are solutions out there.

Let’s take a look at some of the most common landscaping billing blunders and also look at ways they could have been prevented in the first place.

1. Missed Billings

Completely failing to bill for a service is one of the biggest landscape billing mistakes to be made. 

Unfortunately, when working with paper records, it can happen quite easily.

For instance, consider this scenario: Your crew is on the job site and is asked by the property manager to add an additional task. The crew leader approves the extra service but doesn’t write it down or tell anyone back at the office that it was done. Because of that, it’s never billed. While even a single missed billing opportunity is a hit to your revenue, this is the type of mistake that can happen repeatedly and really add up.

Not being organized is the biggest reason why landscape businesses forget to send out bills. That’s why it’s so important to have a system in place that makes it possible to invoice customers both quickly and easily.

Using landscaping billing software is one way to become more organized and efficient.

Missed billings can be prevented with landscaping billing software for a couple of key reasons. For one, with a mobile component to landscape business software, it is easy to remember to add services to the bill on the spot. That data will be sent directly to Accounts Receivable from the field. With a streamlined process, there isn’t any opportunity to forget to bill for a service.

In addition to that, a landscaping billing template can simplify the process so that it doesn’t get put off or forgotten. This is important as another reason that landscapers cite for “forgetting to bill” is that they find the process stressful. They keep pushing the task aside but it never gets done (or is taken care of too late, as we’ll discuss next).

But with landscaping billing forms, the process is simplified. You do not need to create an invoice from scratch every month. You will be able to get into the habit of sending out bills as soon as a job is completed. This becomes a streamlined process where everything moves smoothly through the system.

2. Late Billings

Clock showing almost midnightSending out a late bill for your services increases the chances that it might not get paid. In fact, most landscape companies have found that the longer the time lapse between services rendered and services billed, the more likely that a client will dispute the charges.

This is something that we see a lot of with snow management. If landscape companies are not on top of their billing, it’s increasingly likely that a customer is going to forget about that snow event and potentially argue the bill.

Of course, it’s not always easy to get bills out on time. You get busy and in trying to keep up with work, billing can get pushed to the wayside. Or, maybe you even have a vacation scheduled but you want to be sure that your maintenance bills don’t fall into the wrong fiscal period or get sent out late.

Landscaping billing software can prevent late billing. With automation, you can streamline the process and ensure that orders are sent right into the billing system and then out to the client.

You can also post invoices for maintenance services prior to the actual date. If you know that you have a vacation coming up you can take care of your billing in advance while still keeping it in the appropriate fiscal period.

3. Billing Customers Who Are Past Due

Did you know that research shows small businesses across the United States are owed as much as $825 billion in unpaid invoices? It’s a common problem across many industries and the landscaping industry is no different.

Unfortunately, it’s a problem that can be perpetuated when smart billing practices are not performed. Debt continues to mount when landscape companies continue to bill customers who are not up-to-date on paying their account.

This is not always intentional. Oftentimes landscape companies don’t even realize how far behind a client has fallen as they continue to perform services for them. That’s because they don’t have an easy way to closely track the data. But as the debt builds, the likelihood of it being paid back may decline.

But landscaping billing and scheduling software can prevent this from happening. That’s because it’s much easier to keep track of who is past due. You can bring up that data quickly and easily. Within the software, there is a tool that would allow you to look at all of your clients who have been invoiced and are 45 to 60 days past due. You could then choose to put a “hold” on those services. The software would notify everyone in the company (operations, sales, and administration) that there is a hold on that account and that services should be stopped until the client catches up. This will prevent debt from continuing to mount and help your company to get back on track.

4. Making Errors in Progress-Based Billing

Landscape company operations softwareFor large-scale projects, you might be using a series of invoices prepared at different stages of the project. If you’re doing progress-based billing, then you probably already know the importance of accurate data. After all, the amount that you bill for is linked directly to the percentage of work you’ve completed.

But what happens if you’re not keeping good track of that field data? If you’re utilizing paper timesheets to keep track of hours, then this may be the case.

But with landscaping billing software you can run a report and look at the most accurate and up-to-date information available on the work performed. This will ensure that absolutely every single hour in the field is being accounted for in progress-based billing. That includes the exact number of your crews’ hours and your subcontractors’ hours, allowing you to collect the proper amount that is owed to you.

This is important because it will not only support steady cash flow, but it will prevent your customers from being frustrated by being invoiced improperly. When you undercharge on one invoice and try to go back and make up for it later, that opens the door for customer frustration. Making repeated errors like this may lead your customers to lose confidence in you or might even inspire them to dispute charges or refuse to pay. These are all reasons why it’s important to get your billing numbers right the first time.

5. Failing to Specify Payment Terms

Failing to specify payment terms on your bills opens the door to late and unpaid invoices. Being paid on time is important to your business and your cash flow, but if you don’t indicate any time frame for payment on the bill, it won’t seem like a priority to your customer.

In order to maintain a steady cash flow, you should include descriptive information on your invoices regarding payment. Include details regarding “how to pay” as well as when payments should be made by.

It is easy to remember to include this vital information when you are working with a landscaping billing template, rather than creating a brand-new invoice each and every time that you bill a client. Your payment terms can be a standard part of every single bill. It also adds a level of professionalism when customers see a formal and consistent invoice each time they are billed.

Put an End to Billing Errors

With the availability of landscaping billing software, there is no reason to continue the cycle of repeated billing mistakes. By implementing software, you can put together much more accurate and timely bills to ensure that you keep your company’s cash flow healthy.

This means you have a choice to make.

You could continue to operate your business as you always have—with paper records or an inadequate system. But you will continue to face problems that have a direct impact on your company’s profitability.

Or, you could choose to implement landscaping billing and scheduling software to take control of your billing. By choosing this path, you’ll prevent costly billing blunders from dragging you down.

Asset can help you put an end to billing blunders. Getting started is easy! Let’s chat for 15 minutes to see if our software is a good fit for your organization. Then, get a customized tour of our software based on your landscape company. Soon leaving money on the table will be a distant, past memory!

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