Talk to your clients, and they will all agree, their satisfaction with your products or services is directly related to your pricing. But it is not just your price-quality ratio. It is also your price as presented by the invoices you send. Invoice verification is a moment of truth in the client relationship. Clients don’t just want a fair price. They also demand transparency of the invoice and the use of the services leading to the invoice.
In this blog, we will discuss why transparent billing matters and how customer expectations have shifted as technology advances.
Subscription and pay-per-use models, master-usage contracts, as well as outsourcing, are contract examples that have led to higher interdependency between companies and their key suppliers.
However, billing typically has not kept up. As a result, corporate clients are struggling to achieve cost predictability and cost control on their large contracts. You will find many examples in facilities maintenance, equipment maintenance, IT outsourcing, logistic services as well as long-term healthcare service contracts, to name a few.
With no lever to pull during the billing accrual, the customer's only option becomes to scrutinize a monthly invoice after it has been received. You, as a service supplier, will have to compile the invoice data from multiple systems, often including some manual steps, and relying on third-party information.
In such a blurry situation, you may run into either over-billing or leaking revenue. Neither party can trust the eventual outcome.
Your invoice should be the natural result of the agreed contract, the entitlement, and the usage during the period. The billing basis should be self-evident in the invoice approval and for the account payables department of your client. Unclear bills, or billing items that are not traceable, will lead to friction.
If you receive a lot of inquiries or complaints about your invoices, start looking at your data collection. But there is more to be won.
Consider the time you can save collecting the data using an agile billing system. Or the time to produce and present the bill once the data streams are automated.
And lastly, consider client satisfaction when friction is avoided by providing transparent invoices.
How much more your account management or field executives can sell when they no longer have to debate and defend the invoice?
It makes sense to automate your billing process using an agile billing system. Good Sign offers insight into the usage and pre-billing at any given moment with real-time data.
Many of our customers provide this data transparently to their clients so that they are always up-to-date and in full control of their usage. This gives a sense of control for the clients.
It can transform the dialogue between you and your customers. You are now advising on usage rather than defending past usage as displayed on your bills. Your clients are also experiencing such real-time insights in their private life, so it is only natural that they demand it in their professional life as well.
In this article, we argued that proactive automation is a way to improve customer satisfaction. As a direct result, less friction will lead to quick cash flow.
You might be surprised to learn that billing automation will increase revenues. With a good billing system, you will not miss a billing item because you have all data correct and in time in your system, and you will not miss used volumes in your monthly billing cycle.
On top of this, your account managers will be able to shift the focus from defense to offense: guiding your clients to better usage and a more forward-looking relationship as a trusted advisor. And because the data is now readily available, they will have the time to serve your clients best!
If you want to capitalize on new business opportunities and you feel your future billing needs will outgrow your current billing solution, or if you are just curious to learn how Good Sign enables doing things differently, feel free to take us to the test!
We will gladly take on your challenge and prove to you it can be done in the new world of client-centric billing.
We help our customers solve existing pain points in monetizing service contracts and managing subscriptions and pay-per-use services. We help companies freely grow scalable services.
Feel free to contact us and let’s have a chat on how we can support your company.
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