Getting paid is getting harder for many small businesses. In a sign that may reflect the troubled economy, 22 million of the nation’s smallest businesses are waiting for $1,500 in overdue payments each month, creating a collective $33 billion strain on their cash flow.
That’s just one of the findings of the Intuit Billing Manager
To speed the payment process, and stop this cash flow strain, Intuit Inc.
Small business owners, such as freelancers, consultants and Web designers, can use Billing Manager to move from ineffective hand-written invoices or spreadsheets to easily manage online invoices and payments. Billing Manager lets them:
o Create and send professional-looking invoices with their business logo.
o Track who has or hasn’t paid their bill and send reminders.
o Get paid fast with credit cards and electronic checks – even on an iPhone.
“While $1,500 in overdue payments may not be a big deal for some, it could be a make or break deal for the smallest of small businesses,” said Joe Kaplan, president of Intuit’s Innovative Merchant Solutions Division. “Billing Manager helps these business owners stop worrying about how they’re going to get through the month and start getting control of their cash flow.”
The Intuit Billing Manager survey also found that on average nearly 40 percent of small businesses
“Billing Manager has really helped me improve the billing and collection side of my business,” said Brian DiChiara, founder of Sole Pixel, a Web development business in Alabaster, Ala. “I previously used Excel spreadsheets and PDFs to create my invoices, but had no way to quickly see if a customer paid a bill or set up a reoccurring invoice. Now I have everything I need in one spot – no matter where I am – to manage my invoices and get paid.”
Anywhere, Anytime – Even on an iPhone
As an online service, Billing Manager lets business owners create and track invoices as well as accept payments from any place at any time, whether from a neighborhood coffee shop or an Internet café half way around the world. It works with popular Web browsers, including Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Internet Explorer.
The Billing Manager Web site is iPhone compatible, letting business owners find customers in their address book, see each account’s recent activity, or look at the contents of each invoice folder – all in the palm of their hand. If they are meeting with a client who wants to pay a bill, they can simply tap on the name, enter the amount and type of payment, including a credit card, and record or process it directly from their phone.
Get Paid – By Check or Credit Card
Only 30 percent of small business owners accept credit cards and only 22 percent accept electronic checks, according to the survey. Billing Manager helps business owners get paid faster by giving their customers more and faster options to pay their bills. This includes everything from traditional forms of payments – cash, check, or money orders – to faster methods such as credit cards or electronic checks through QuickBooks Merchant Services.
Get and Stay Organized
Nearly 20 percent of small business owners admitted to forgetting to invoice or never following up on an overdue invoice. Billing Manager gets them organized so this doesn’t happen.
The online tool lets business owners easily enter and track their current and overdue invoices, so that they always know who owes them money. Billing Manager also remembers each customer and the invoices they received, eliminating the need to re-enter that data.
Create Professional-Looking Invoices
Many small business owners find that professional-looking documents, such as invoices, are important to how seriously people perceive their business. With Billing Manager, business owners can create invoices
Free Invoicing with Added Services at an Affordable Price
Billing Manager is available at www.billingmanager.com
Billing Manager on the iPhone is also available at IntuitLabs.com, a site where visitors can try early versions and new releases of Intuit offerings, provide feedback and communicate with members of the design team.
Survey Background and Methodology
Decipher Inc., an independent, full-service market research firm, conducted the Intuit Billing Manager “Get Paid Survey” from Oct. 7-10, sampling 751 small business owners with less than 10 employees. Respondents accessed the survey via Decipher’s online system. A summary of the survey findings is available at: https://billingmanager.intuit.com/billing/getpaidsurvey.url?ref=nyt
This article was last modified on January 6, 2023
This article was first published on November 17, 2008
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