“Your annual service of your air conditioner is completed, no problems to report. That will be $299, cash or card?” asks my air conditioning contractor after completing my annual service of my air conditioner to get it ready for summer.
Without thinking I say “card”. He hands over his iPad and I enter my credit card details. Seconds later it’s approved and an email arrives in my inbox with a copy of the paid invoice.
IS THIS YOUR REALITY? OR DOES IT GO SOMETHING MORE LIKE…
“Your annual service of your air conditioner is completed, no problems to report, I’ll send you an invoice”.
You record the details on your job sheet and throw them into your work diary. It’s off to the next job.
4pm, end of another busy day. You get cleaned up in time for dinner with your family … then it’s back to work, you have to invoice for all that work that you did today.
At 10pm you lift yourself from in front of your computer to go and slump into bed exhausted… and its only Tuesday!
But it get’s worse, at the end of the month you look at your bank account – it doesn’t look good. So you track through your invoices checking which ones have been paid. A lot of them haven’t been paid so at 7pm you start to call people that owe your money
“Hi Alan, I serviced your air conditioner last month”
“Yes I remember, I haven’t seen your invoice yet….” Or a million other excuses.
4, 6 or 8 weeks later you finally get paid.
WHY DID YOU GIVE THEM AN ACCOUNT?
When we go to the supermarket, restaurant or shop we pay cash or card for what we want, why then do you offer accounts to all your customers?
There are only three reasons why you should offer an account
✔ They are a business that you do regular work for like a property manager or strata manager
✔ They use you all the time and have shown a track record of consistently paying you.
✔ They are a government or large corporation and don’t have the ability to pay by cash or card.
So, if you’re doing that irregular air conditioning services (or something similar) ask for payment by cash or card before you leave. And if you don’t have the technology to be able to invoice and take payment from the job then maybe it’s time to think about upgrading.
Without thinking I say “card”. He hands over his iPad and I enter my credit card details. Seconds later it’s approved and an email arrives in my inbox with a copy of the paid invoice.
IS THIS YOUR REALITY? OR DOES IT GO SOMETHING MORE LIKE…
“Your annual service of your air conditioner is completed, no problems to report, I’ll send you an invoice”.
You record the details on your job sheet and throw them into your work diary. It’s off to the next job.
4pm, end of another busy day. You get cleaned up in time for dinner with your family … then it’s back to work, you have to invoice for all that work that you did today.
At 10pm you lift yourself from in front of your computer to go and slump into bed exhausted… and its only Tuesday!
But it get’s worse, at the end of the month you look at your bank account – it doesn’t look good. So you track through your invoices checking which ones have been paid. A lot of them haven’t been paid so at 7pm you start to call people that owe your money
“Hi Alan, I serviced your air conditioner last month”
“Yes I remember, I haven’t seen your invoice yet….” Or a million other excuses.
4, 6 or 8 weeks later you finally get paid.
WHY DID YOU GIVE THEM AN ACCOUNT?
When we go to the supermarket, restaurant or shop we pay cash or card for what we want, why then do you offer accounts to all your customers?
There are only three reasons why you should offer an account
✔ They are a business that you do regular work for like a property manager or strata manager
✔ They use you all the time and have shown a track record of consistently paying you.
✔ They are a government or large corporation and don’t have the ability to pay by cash or card.
So, if you’re doing that irregular air conditioning services (or something similar) ask for payment by cash or card before you leave. And if you don’t have the technology to be able to invoice and take payment from the job then maybe it’s time to think about upgrading.
