business billing/invoicing.

[TommyTwoTone]

I have lately had many businesses try to get us to set up an invoice system so that there employees can order food, and the company will be sent a bill at the end of the month. has anybody done this and if so what is the best way to do it. Thanks.

 

[Patriot_sPizza]

a big can of worms, IMHBAO…may not be worth the effort on small orders…

if you do decide, get a company credit card on file & bill weekly, not monthly, to the credit card…

you don’t want 2 b 30 days down the road bickering about a $10 check…

 

[bodegahwy]

We do a lot of businesses this way with 4-5 customers. The average order is about $60-70 with a lot of $100-$300 orders for company meetings and training sessions. The largest of them does about $6000 a year, the second and third largest are both about $2000 a year.

We bring paper plates and plastic, napkins and catering size salads when they want to feed a bunch of folks.

If we have problems getting paid we drop the program with that company. I have only had to do that once.

Our POS accomodates charge sales (for cash reconcilliation) and we keep a log book of charges, (who, what company, what department, date, order number, amount, order taker, driver and date paid)

Once a month I sit down and produce invoices. I use an invoice form I made up years ago on MS Word and I fax the invoices. Since I invoice the same people a lot, I just save the document and next time change out the order details.

 

[TommyTwoTone]

You are right it does seem like a big can of worms. But if done right in a business rich enviroment, it can prove to be profitable, and a good way for that company to boost sales with us. So is sending an invoice once a month a good way, and then bill the credit card once a month. might this be the best way?

 

[Patriot_sPizza]

not everyone pays their bills in a timely fashion…can you afford to have 2, 3, 4, 5 thousand dollars outstanding for 30, 45, 60 or 90 days?

How many bar tabs do you have around town?

If you choose to extend credit, bill weekly on a credit card…

How long does your food supplier let you go w/o paying? 30 days? more?

There is a cost when providing credit…

Semper Fi!
Auditor, U.S.M.C.

 

[bodegahwy]

I can afford to have a thousand or two out for a month if that is the difference between getting the order and not getting it. The customers we do it with all pay us within a week or 10 days of getting invoiced. If they did not, I would discontinue the arrangement with them.

With our regular accounts, this has certainly not been an inconvenience or any kind of PITA and we have been doing it for about 8 years. We provide this service to a couple of local companies, 3 local resorts, a bank, the city, the school district and the hospital. Of those, several order every month, others only during the high season. Adding it up in my head for the last year the sales for these 9 customers was about 15,000. I had to send out around 30 invoices. Nobody ever took longer than two weeks to pay us after the invoice.

 

[j_r0kk]

I know a few of you use the Point of Success program. This program apparently has the capability of storing billing information for customers, though I’ve never used the function. However, I am curious as to how it works. If anyone can give me a little step by step demo on how to use it I would be appreciative.

-J_r0kk

 

[Daddio]

I posted your Question on the Point of Success Round Table. I want to know as well.

 

[Jeff_Ward]

Point of Success doesn’t do customer billing, but I have seen some restaurants put something together that will work for them. One user i spoke with last year had done something that looks like an invoice that included a summary of the orders the customer had that month. Others just keep copies of customer tickets and send them to the customer periodically.

I suppose the final answer is that Point of Success does not track receivables, but you can use it to help with billing for open accounts.