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• Your invoices can be sent out immediately electronically, right to the recipient’s Inbox. Getting the invoice to them sooner translates to this important factor: the sooner they receive it, the sooner you are likely to get paid. Good incentive, right?
• Paperless software not only allows you to send out the invoices with the click of a button, it makes it easy to add a customized note to particular customers, or to include an upcoming sale or event you’re sure will be of interest to that customer. 
• Your record keeping will be easier because you will have an easy, organized way to see when invoices went out; which ones need reminders and some software even let’s you send out reminders automatically.
• Invoicing software allows you to inform your customers as to how they can pay the invoice electronically (your bank or account info, so they can pay directly without you needing to wait for a check in the mail) If they’re a regular/monthly customer, setting up automatic payments is a breeze with invoicing software.
• You’re actively participating in the “green” movement by reducing the carbon footprint of overuse of paper, mailing expenses (not just postage, but the manpower, gas & energy involved in mailing out invoices & getting checks back in the mail). Going Green = Good Work!
• Using invoicing software gives your customers the perception that your company is innovative and on the cutting edge of the latest technology, and it’s true!
• You can, in essence, see at a glance what each of your customers is spending with your company, how often, what products and when. This is yet another excellent way to increase your knowledge base about your customers’ habits and needs, and should be cross-applied to your database of customer information in order to help you most effectively target them; thus strengthening your relationship with them that much more.
• Run a periodic “Consumer Feedback” campaign via your invoicing software. In other words, do some piggybacking. For example, once in awhile, include a message requesting feedback or suggestions right there in the Invoice Memo Notes section. This may help you with your upcoming strategy planning. Equally as important, it’s potentially motivation to get paid that much sooner! Using your invoices in this manner is, in essence, a more personalized, interactive expansion of social media, right? It’s simply one more method of creating mutual communication with customers, and strengthening customer loyalty as they have yet another opportunity to see that you really care what they think.

Invoicing software should be a key factor in your business strategy, for all of the reasons listed above (some more than others). Without proper planning, observance of consumer purchasing trends, tracking their needs, habits and feedback, it can be challenging to adequately keep your business strategy on track. Maximizing your use of such software can also be an incredibly effective means of doing a bit of future projection of trends, which may assist your company’s R & D department in staying ahead of the competition.

Perhaps the only remaining question is, what are you waiting for? Give a few of the best versions a free trial run (many offer you this opportunity) and get going. It can help you save lots of time and money, and isn’t that one of every businessperson’s  key desires?

Already use invoicing software? What brand do you use and can you recommend it?

Our Top Pick for Beta Testing Software: betaeasy.com 

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your customer base. Essentially, using the best testing software for beta testing is like conducting your own focus group without going to all the expense associated with running one of those in person. Some of the invaluable information you can test for:

• Website visitor’s household income – are they the right target?
• Website visitor’s plans to spend on goods/services you provide in the next 6 months
• Tracking customers’ reactions to whatever service or product you’re doing the beta testing on, in order to work out the bugs, figure out how to tweak marketing most effectively, etc.
• Don’t miss out on the opportunity to add additional surveys which can capture customers’ input on their upcoming needs as well as their ideas & suggestions about new services/products you may wish to consider developing. Encourage them to go ahead and dream big! Even if their suggestions aren’t feasible for you, it may spark your team in a new creative direction that proves to be extremely valuable.

Customer Base to Target as Your Beta Testers
Determine how many beta testers are required to render an accurate cross section of consumers to collect the information you’re after. Then figure out what functional areas you want the testing to cover, and divide those up accordingly.

When you’re deciding whom to approach to be your beta testers, go through your database of customers who have demonstrated the most/longest loyalty factor to your company. Most of the time, they will be the most likely to respond positively about getting on board with the testing, and enthusiastic about being able to contribute their opinion.

You might also consider asking these same loyal customers if they have friends they would feel comfortable suggesting to you as potential additional beta testers. Sometimes it’s very helpful to get objective input from “outsiders” who have no preconceived notions about your specific company or its offerings, and may have additional insight about some of your competitors and how you stack up against them.

When you send out your solicitations to testers, make sure they understand that they’re expected to utilize the software regularly, and to provide meaningful and detailed feedback about its functionality, user-friendliness, and any other additional input they care to offer.

What Beta Testing is NOT
Even after you’ve chosen the best testing software for your beta phase, it’s a good idea to recap what you shouldn’t expect your beta testing to do or provide. So here’s a snapshot of what beta testing on its own merit is NOT:

• Beta testing is not a sales tool to help your sales team close deals still in their funnel
• Beta testing should not be used as a substitute for usability testing
• It’s not a good idea to use beta testing alone for proper design
• It should never be viewed as a substitute for quality assurance
• Beta testing shouldn’t be confined solely to the product design or product management departments of your company

Once you’ve decided upon the best testing software for your beta testing, be sure the results are monitored frequently as the data from testers comes back; whomever is on the team(s) doing the monitoring keeps up their duties and reports the collective results to their departmental head honchos, if not directly to you. Happy testing!

 

If your business is owed money and you have to spend time and energy to collect it, are you really spending your time wisely? Hiring professionals can be a more expedient, cost-effective way to go. It can save you time, money and energy and is usually far more effective than attempting to collect old debts yourself.

When hiring a collection agency, in essence you’re taking on a business partner. After all, they’ll be representing your company, but not from your office. So putting in due diligence to be sure your new “partner” truly has your company’s best interests in mind and conducts their collections procedures professionally is extremely important.

• First, contact legitimate collections industry membership associations, such as ACA International. They can provide a list of both national and local reputable agencies.
• Once you’ve narrowed the field, thoroughly research how those collection agencies run their business. Examine their corporate history, and if they’re local, ask to take a facility tour. Meet as many of their staff as possible, especially those doing collections. It’s good to make sure they conduct themselves positively and professionally.

Specific Criteria To Seek Out Before Hiring a Collections Agency

• The agency you hire to collect old debts needs to be fully licensed in your state of operation, as well as insured and bonded
• Since you want to hire the one that’s going to do the best job for your company, it’s crucial that they have expertise in your particular industry. It makes a difference in their ability to communicate best not only with you, but with your customers. For example, if you’re trying to collect on old B2B loans, you don’t want to hire an agency that specializes in recovering old debt for medical practices.
• Age of the Debt makes a difference – The agency you hire needs to be well-versed in collecting the type or age of debt you’re faced with. Something that’s 30 days overdue is quite different than a debt that’s 180 days past due.
• Size Matters – The collection agency should be familiar with collecting amounts that are in the range of your average debt’s balance amount.
• The collection agency needs to be willing to show you their audited or reviewed financials. You want to make sure you’re not partnering with a company that tends to use their clients as a capital source.
• Find out from the agency precisely how they’ll be contacting your customers – in other words, how often and by what means.
• A legitimate professional collections agency should definitely have no problem creating an independent trust account into which they deposit monies collected on your behalf.This avoids your funds being co-mingled with those of anyone else.
• They should be a low-risk provider.
• The agency needs to be willing and able to regularly provide you with reports of their activities on your behalf.
• They should be more than happy to explain to you exactly how their collectors are trained.
• Definitely make sure they’re good communicators, and easily reachable – for instance, they must have an easy, dependable method of electronic file transmittal; a single point of contact that’s readily accessible is another important factor.
• The collection agency should provide you with a clearly stated agreement that explains all terms of your connection; with particular emphasis on how and when you’ll receive monies they collect on your behalf.

Final Checklist of Questions Before Hiring

• Ask in-depth questions about how their campaigns operate; be sure to request an outline of their plan for helping you collect old debts. Choosing an agency that embraces similar values to those of your own business sets up a formula for success from the start. Also make sure that you match expectations with regard to collection goals.
• Use your “say-so” about how you wan the agency to collect old debts for you. Typically, collections done via telephone have a higher success ratio than collection letters. But if you prefer not to have your customers called, steer clear of an agency who strictly does phone collections.
• Compare how the leaders on your short list stack up, and make the best choice for your company.

Don’t base your decision solely on pricing; simply because an agency offers you the lowest rate doesn’t guarantee they’ll do the best job. And remember – you should never be required to pay a collection agency that does not successfully collect old debts on your accounts.

Do you currently have a customer loyalty program in place? Odds are, it’s increased your profit margin, if it’s a good program.Customer loyalty programs not only create repeat customers, they generate new word-of-mouth & social media referral customers. So if you haven’t implemented a customer loyalty program yet, here’s a look at how, what and why your should do so.

Deciding to work with talent management, HR recruiting experts may just save you a lot of time up front, as well as in that proverbial long run. Having them pinpoint and locate “superstar” applicants rather than trying to weed through them all on your own can be an invaluable time and energy saver.The old adage of“you get what you pay for” usually winds up being true. Most companies would prefer to hire a performer with a proven track record of success than taking a chance on some “wannabe.”  So paying for their expert ability to track down the best candidates is often a very wise investment.An excellent talent management, HR recruiting firm often has the inside track on where those superstar performers can be found. Even if you have a college graduate interview program in place at your company already, having additional professional insight from such recruiting and management firms may be an excellent addendum to that program. They can shine a light on your leading candidates by means of such tools as behavioral assessments, and thus effectively help you narrow the field.

If you’re worried about sending a message to your current employees that they’re not making muster when you choose to bring in a new “superstar,” consider this – rather than promoting from within, bringing that new shining star on board is not always a bad thing. It can raise the bar and cause your current staff to become more dedicated to improving their performance, becoming more motivated to continuing their business education, etc.

Talent management, HR recruiting experts can also be valuable when it comes to assessing the strengths of your organization and its departments. Managing applicants is only one of the facets these firms provide; granted, it’s a crucial one. Periodic evaluations of departmental and individual performance is another facet such firms may provide.

The Role of Professional Talent Management, HR Recruiting Experts

Today’s business environment is an ever-evolving spectrum, which is growing increasingly complex and global. HR recruiters are needed now more than ever before to assist companies with their strategic development; specifically with bringing the best talent available to their team.Talent management, HR recruiting professionals wear many hats these days – culture coaches, risk managers, and talent locators. Their job has become more complex as global competition increases – nowadays they must not only find the best talent, but have ways of double-checking whether or not that talent is likely to remain for the long haul. Therefore they have a growing arsenal of tools which help them do their job most effectively.

Behavior assessments are one such tool that can prove invaluable when it comes to really understanding where job candidates’ loyalties, interests and future goals lie. So hiring a great talent management, HR recruiting firm might be perceived as adding some additional insurance to your staff’s projected longevity with your company. Moving beyond the first stage of recruiting into the more finite realm of the long-term retention of excellent employees who are capable of generating financial value and profitability is imperative to your company’s success.

If you’re seeking a good analogy, here’s one to mull over. A professional sports team hires talent scouts to go out and assess the best up-and-coming rookies prior to the team’s manager offering that rookie an amazingly expensive contract. Think of business talent management, HR recruiting experts as your company’s talent scouts. You just may come to believe they’re worth their weight in gold.

Another common missing feature is the fact that tracked time can not be relegated to a specific time of day. For example, a consistent scheduled meeting to work on “interdepartmental budgeting issues” should only be allowed at the same time each day. Some software out there allows employees to invent multitasking when they’re not really doing  many things in real time. In essence, they can clone themselves and come across as “superstars,” but if the program doesn’t show that, how can management really know what’s going on? Without any type of checks and balances built into the software, it’s may be tempting that some employees will boost their own apparent dedication and productivity. Okay, so how can you avoid this trap?

• A means of effectively tracking time when offline – i.e., doing business travel or other activities not connected to the internet
• Time tracked on tasks allocated to a specific time of day
• Integration with Task & Project Management
• Allow you to find every possible billable minute to increase profits
• Real Time Tracking
• Management is able to discern what was tracked via “real time” vs. what was added manually
• Reminders to make sure time is being tracked
• Ability to track website & applications visited and when

Here are a few applications you may wish to investigate as you begin your research:

• Toggl
• Bill4Time
• Time Doctor
• Rescue Time
• Get Harvest
• Easy Time Tracking
• Replicon

You’ll find that these are just the tip of the iceberg, but they’re some of the more tried and tested software options available. Many offer a Free Trial, which would be wise to take them up on to get the most accurate idea of whether it’s the best software for your needs. Tick-tock, tick-tock – time’s a wastin’, so you may as well get on with your “Happy Hunting” for the best Time Tracking software for your company’s needs. Good Luck!

Already use a specific brand? Let us know what you use.