Thursday, 22 August 2013

Recurring Billing Made Easy

By Susan Bapsnill


Most small business owners have heard the term "recurring billing", but few make use of it or understand what benefits it can hold for their business. Let's start off with getting an exact idea of what subscription is and then move on to investigating how integrating it in your business can increase your cash-flow and save you money.

So, subscription billing, what is it? Subscription billing will charge an amount repeatedly to your credit card or bank account. The amount is usually the same and recurs on the same day each month. But subscription billing can also happen for variable amounts on any term or frequency on any date. Subscription billing is great for bills that never change in amount, for example: An annual subscription to your favorite magazine.

So now that we have seen what it is, let's find out how subscription billing can assist your business:

Keeping your cash-flow healthy

If like many other business owners and freelancers you think that recurring billing is solely for enterprise or corporate entities, you will be surprised to learn that recurring billing can work wonders for your SMME as well. You can quite simply and very cost effectively implement subscription billing in your own small business.

Integrating subscription billing in your SMME means improved cash-flow due to collection via debit order or automated monthly deduction. Most small businesses or freelancers allow their customers to pay via bank deposit or electronic funds transfer only. This means that your customers have the control over when they pay you. Sometimes resulting in sporadic small payments or even worse, untimely payments.

This means you are unsure of your cash-flow. This in turn leads to you not being able to plan in advance. Not being able to project what your income will look like over the next few months will prevent you from being able to schedule your own debits and plan the growth of your business.

Don't forget to remember

Recurring billing means timely payment. Customers can't forget to pay because now payment collection is automated. You don't have to wait around anymore for late payment or have to deal with customers claiming they forgot about making payment. You get your money when you need it - hassle-free. Customers still have the freedom however to select their own debit dates according to invoice due date, so everyone's happy.

Decrease administration

Payment gateways that facilitate recurring payments usually offer automatic account reconciliation or provide bulk reconciliation files that allow simple and accurate resolution of customer payments. This in turn translates to huge savings in time and money on your side. No need to employ many staff members to collect payment and control recon, save money. Your clients will also thank you for this because they save time. They don't have to worry about going through to the bank to make manual payment, subscription billing automatically takes care of their payment when it's due.

It all sounds so great! How do you get started? We suggest you sign up for a payment facilitator that automates account recon and shop around for a payment gateway that enables your business to bill recurrently.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment