Struggling to stay on top of customer payments? If so, Smart Service is here to revolutionize the way you manage customer contracts! This quarter, with version 116, automated payment processing (backed by our merchant service integration and service agreement features) will now be possible; helping businesses close the gap between issuing invoices and receiving payments. If you provide monthly, quarterly, or annual contracts, preventive maintenance, or other recurring services to your customers, then you can’t afford to miss this update!
We've designed our automated billing features to help save you time and money on processing costs while also getting your money to you faster. With these features, you won't have to spend hours each month creating and sending invoices, waiting for customers to make a payment, and manually recording those payments!
Why Should You Automate Billing?
We’re in business because companies like yours want to automate tasks, avoid paperwork, close the gap on invoicing, and move on to bigger and better things. You’ve already optimized your scheduling workflow and your field team, so why not do the same for your contracts?We see a lot of our HVAC, lawncare, rental, shredding, and plumbing customers working long and tense hours at the end of the month to ensure that all of the service contracts have been reviewed and billed. These features will adjust the focus of that time spent from getting invoices out to managing only the contracts that expire or fail to make payment. Hopefully cutting out steps 1-8 of your 10-step process!To get the maximum benefit out of this feature, you’ll need your staff and your customers on board. Below are some benefits for your consideration.
Benefits to Businesses
Customer Retention BenefitsCustomers under contract are continuously doing business with you. Customers making automated payments on those contracts are likely to stick with you! If you’re sending out monthly invoices, a customer must choose to make a payment or cut ties. By automating payments the customer must put in the effort to cancel instead of putting in the effort to make a payment.Receiving On-Time PaymentsHaving your customers billing information on file and automatically processing for them when their payment is due means avoiding a delay in contacting them for payment. This also prevents service stoppage when you’re waiting on a payment to come in before providing the next service.Save on Billing and Collection CostsJust like the above point, you need to dedicate employee time to send those invoices, process payments, and manage customer accounts. We can trim down the amount of time you spend on those tasks!PCI-Validated Point-To-Point Encryption (P2PE) and TokenizationHow secure is your process for taking customer credit card and account information? We see a lot of small businesses asking customers to write down a credit card number on paper and mail that paper back to the business for the service agreement which adds a lot of risk for both parties!The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of standards created by major payment card companies to protect consumers and avoid liability by forcing businesses involved in the payment card ecosystem to implement safety measures and processes.CardConnect’s devices are protected by CardSecure, which is a combination of point-to-point encryption (P2PE) and our patented tokenization. This ensures that your customer’s payment data is instantly protected at the point of entry, ensuring secure transmission for processing. Using patented, intelligent tokenization, CardPointe reduces the challenges they encounter with PCI compliance for all transactions – both card-present and card-not-present. Only P2PE-certified vendors like CardConnect can deliver this unparalleled level of payment security.
Benefits to Customers
No Surprise Billing or Late FeesBy automating payments you can ensure that you won’t lose service due to a missed payment. Forgetting to pay a bill can also lead to steep late fees which is a conversation neither you nor your customer wants to have.Membership = BenefitsIncentivize your customers by offering additional benefits for signing up. We’re going to save YOU money on processing time internally, so you can use some of those funds to provide additional benefits to motivate your customers. It’s a positive cycle!Avoid Missed Services & Costly BreakdownsThe smooth and regular operation of essential equipment is key to the comfort of your household. Nobody wants to be without hot water or heat. Your customers can relax knowing you’ll be there to keep furnaces, generators, and water heaters running all year long!
Frequently Asked Questions
What Happens When a Payment Fails?When Smart Service attempts to process a payment and fails to do so, that failure will be reported to you and an email can automatically be sent to the customer to have them verify their account information. This will be essential for customers who may have an expired card on file, insufficient funds, or other payment issues.Can I Suspend Customers for Non-payment?You can! Once enabled, we have an optional setting that will suspend a service agreement and the attached work orders when a payment failure is detected. This will prevent your technicians from visiting customers with suspended contracts.Once the payment issue is cleared up, one click with reactivate the agreement and the attached services so you can get your technicians out to the customer. This should keep you from servicing customers without current accounts.What About Auto-Renewals?We’ve got you covered here, too! You’ll be able to filter contracts expiring soon and send out renewal notices or a new quote for the upcoming agreement renewal. Of course, you don’t have to set an expiration date for your contracts either, we’ll keep billing and help you service your customers until you or they decide to close the contract!
Other Resources
Click to view the complete 10.116 release notes.Click to update Smart Service.
