Video Transcript
00:01
hey mike kelly here with a quick video
00:02
with callahan’s corner where you asked
00:04
the questions we had some live right
00:05
here on facebook so
00:06
question i got today is not automating
00:08
your collection
00:09
and billing systems hurting your ability
00:12
to have good cash flow in your business
00:14
and basically hampering your ability to
00:15
scale your business even quicker so
00:18
after 25 years owning a lawn care and
00:20
snow removal business one of the most
00:22
instrumental changes we made in my
00:24
business was going in
00:25
and automating our billing systems and
00:28
then our accounting system so
00:30
a lot of people might ask mike what do
00:31
you mean by automating your billing
00:33
system so
00:33
what we’ve done is gone in and used the
00:35
crm the customer relationship management
00:37
software that we use
00:39
in the business to go out and be able to
00:41
have the ability to customize
00:43
per client uh the ability to build
00:47
daily weekly monthly or on a custom day
00:50
of the month say for instance i want to
00:51
build all my clients on the 20th
00:52
so most lawn care and home cleaning
00:54
companies are going out and actually
00:56
billing at the end of the month but what
00:58
that’s doing is creating a cash flow
01:00
issue so predominantly in most markets
01:02
you’re going to get four or five cuts in
01:04
just for lawn mowing alone
01:05
in the week so if the client doesn’t pay
01:08
you you are upside down at least four
01:10
visits
01:10
before you can actually shut off the
01:12
service and then you’re probably gonna
01:14
even 20 to 30 days to pay
01:16
after that invoice is generated so the
01:18
first thing i want to touch on
01:19
is the time and the effort and sometimes
01:22
the inaccuracies that will happen when
01:24
you go out and manually create your
01:25
invoices so
01:26
in our software the way we use it is we
01:28
actually bill out
01:30
all of our one-time jobs daily so at the
01:32
end of each day and we require a down
01:34
payment or pre
01:35
uh basically a deposit prepayment on
01:38
those for our non-reoccurring clients so
01:40
that’s going to make sure we get at
01:41
least 50
01:42
of the payment up front to cover a lot
01:44
of materials and anything else we’re
01:45
doing on the job
01:46
and then as soon as that job is done
01:48
with start and stop times we’ve got the
01:50
ability to see exactly when the job
01:52
started stopped and our profitability on
01:54
that that invoice is generated that day
01:55
and it’s due on receipt when the job is
01:57
done
01:58
now if we’re doing reoccurring services
02:00
like weekly or bi-weekly mowing
02:01
this is where it gets really hairy in my
02:03
opinion so what i’m going to suggest is
02:05
that you need to go out and take say
02:07
this week’s billing
02:09
for all your reoccurring mowing jobs and
02:11
actually have the software automatically
02:12
generate
02:13
the invoices and you bill it out weekly
02:16
so the following tuesday we’re going to
02:17
build everything we did for this week so
02:19
we’re going to have
02:19
cash in in the bank for all the jobs we
02:22
did last week
02:23
and we’ll have that money in the bank
02:25
before payroll runs on friday so we need
02:28
to take a look at
02:29
how do we go in and cover ourselves from
02:30
one-time jobs for non-reoccurring
02:32
clients and have those automatically
02:33
generate the invoices on a daily basis
02:36
any reoccurring work we want those
02:39
invoices to generate from the week
02:40
previous now the reason why we’re doing
02:42
this
02:42
is if there’s any rain delay or service
02:45
delays or customer service issues over
02:46
the weekend we don’t want to
02:47
immediately ding their cart on monday
02:49
we’re leaving the weekend and the
02:50
following monday to
02:52
uh submit those issues and trucks go out
02:54
and fix them
02:55
and then we run all the cards on tuesday
02:57
so we’re requiring a
02:58
credit card on file now a lot of people
03:01
say i don’t want to pay the three
03:02
percent for that well what you should be
03:03
doing
03:04
um we’re gonna be talking more about
03:05
this on the webinar i’m doing with carla
03:08
landscape accounting uh tomorrow night
03:09
at 8pm there’s a link below if you want
03:11
to join us
03:11
a totally free webinar talking about
03:13
automating and uh your
03:15
accounting and different accounting
03:16
systems but the idea is we want to get
03:18
that cash flow in there so we have the
03:19
cash in the bank
03:20
to scale and we’re minimizing the risk
03:22
if somebody not paying us
03:24
uh so all we’re gonna be out at most is
03:26
one visit for the mowing
03:27
or the home cleaning and now the next
03:29
thing we’re looking at here is once that
03:32
happens what happens if someone doesn’t
03:34
pay us
03:34
so we’ve done is created an automated
03:36
system that triggers between 1 and 30
03:38
days
03:38
31 and 60 61 and 90 in 90 days plus and
03:42
then each seven days in that cycle
03:44
we have a phone call or with a call
03:46
script to sign somebody in the office we
03:47
have an automated email we may have text
03:49
messaging
03:50
what we’ve done is created a predictable
03:51
cadence to go out and collect
03:53
that money each and every time so it’s
03:54
not relying on a person in the office or
03:56
if you’re still in the field
03:57
and you’re running your office as well
03:59
or if you’re using a virtual assistant
04:00
we’ve got a predictable system that’s
04:02
assigned to a particular person
04:03
so what should happen happens each and
04:05
every time without the business owner or
04:06
manager having to babysit the process or
04:08
do it themselves
04:09
but as we escalate that non-receivable
04:11
it can go all the way up through setting
04:12
up a collection process
04:14
through the local court system so we’ve
04:15
created a standardized operating
04:17
procedure
04:18
for accounts receivable when they go
04:21
past due
04:22
now if you’re requiring a credit card on
04:24
file why not have a welcome sequence
04:25
that automatically
04:27
or captures that credit card on file
04:29
with a pci compliant credit card form so
04:32
you’re
04:32
being adherent to the laws and your
04:33
customers information is secure
04:36
and it’s not your liability so as soon
04:37
as they become a client
04:39
that automation triggers out and does a
04:41
pci compliant credit card form to get
04:43
the credit card on file
04:44
now we can build additional automations
04:46
around that as well
04:47
to not allow the job to be dispatched or
04:50
done until the credit card is on file so
04:52
once again we’re creating a checks and
04:53
balances with the automation
04:54
so we’re not looking to replace a person
04:56
in your business but we’re trying to get
04:58
your people in your office to start
05:00
doing 100
05:00
an hour jobs not the 15 or 20 hour jobs
05:02
you want to create a cadence
05:04
of accountability and predictability in
05:05
that system
05:07
in addition to all of that we want to go
05:10
in and create some other
05:11
welcome and wow scenarios so if they
05:13
become a new client for reoccurring
05:15
services
05:16
we go out and do a 30 60 and 90 day
05:18
follow-up that looks personal but yet
05:19
automated to make sure we grab any of
05:21
the little issues before they become
05:22
cancellation issues
05:23
and to talk to where the client is in
05:25
the client lifetime
05:27
uh where they’re at or the life cycle we
05:29
want to go out if it’s a one-time
05:31
service they sign up for the first time
05:32
we’re gonna go out
05:32
just one time through an email or text
05:34
that looks personal but automated to
05:36
make sure they’re happy with the system
05:38
and the process that we’re using and the
05:39
quality of work but the main takeaways
05:41
here if you’re going to join us tomorrow
05:43
at 8pm
05:44
eastern with carla landscaping account
05:46
i’m going to break this down on this
05:47
free webinar but the takeaway from the
05:49
video if you aren’t joining us
05:50
is we need to go in and automate our
05:52
billing systems
05:53
so every one-time job we want to bill at
05:55
the end of the job with a prepayment
05:57
probably 50
05:58
any reoccurring services such as weekly
06:00
or bi-weekly mowing
06:01
credit card on file everything we’ve
06:03
done this week it’s billed out the
06:04
following tuesday and we run all the
06:06
credit cards the cost of the three
06:08
percent of the credit card is built into
06:09
your financial numbers
06:11
so it is not cost anymore the cost of
06:13
that lawn mowing or home cleaning is
06:14
already incorporating that three percent
06:16
but the key is cash flow so all the work
06:19
we did last week the money for it is in
06:20
the bank before we run payroll on friday
06:22
so it allows you to have a cash flow to
06:24
continue and scale and grow your
06:25
business by 50 or 100
06:27
year after year and not have to worry
06:29
about cash flow if they don’t pay you
06:30
the worst case scenaring or one home
06:34
cleaning
06:34
not four or five and now we’ve got an
06:36
automated process that kicks in
06:39
and triggers we have a payment that’s
06:41
passed due one day and then we go from
06:42
thirty or one
06:44
to thirty one day or one to thirty days
06:45
thirty one sixty sixty one to 90
06:47
and then collections thereafter but we
06:49
have a daily
06:50
or weekly cadence of every five to seven
06:52
days that that automation is going out
06:54
and reaching out to them automatically
06:56
or assigning a ticket or to do
06:57
for someone in your office to call
06:59
that’s holding accountability so
07:00
i can’t wait to see you on the
07:02
landscaping account webinar how to
07:04
automate your business and
07:05
accounting with carla landscaping
07:07
accounting click the link below here
07:09
and if not i will see you again tomorrow
07:11
here on callahan’s corner where you ask
07:12
the questions we answer them live right
07:14
here on facebook