Timely Invoicing Means Timely Payments

One of the most effective ways to manage cash flow in any business is by sending out timely and correct invoices regularly. Invoices when sent promptly bring in the needed income to keep any business stable. Though it may seem quite logical that any business that needs regular income in order to sustain business practices and growth also needs to likewise rely on printing and mailing regular invoices, it can be easier said than done.

For a variety of reasons, a business can easily fall behind in sending timely invoices to clients. A small staff, a worker’s illness or vacation, general disorganization and equipment failure can all cause disruptions in the printing and mailing of timely invoices. The inevitable result is that clients send late payments to that business in return. This breakdown of communication leads to myriad financial difficulties and can ultimately lead to the failure of any business that falls victim to untimely or irregular invoice printing and mailing.

Money is the lifeblood of every business. Continuing the stream of cash flow to be dependable and regular is of paramount importance. Sending late, incomplete, incorrect, or badly formatted and printed invoices sends unwanted signals to your clients. Let’s take an example of an attorney’s office that sends late or incorrect invoices. We’ve chosen the name Murphy Law Firm from the old adage that is typically stated as: “anything that can go wrong will go wrong” as an example of a worst-case scenario.

Murphy Law Firm

Murphy Law, a family-owned and operated legal firm has over one hundred clients at any given time of the year. Handling accidents, injuries, divorce, and personal liability lawsuits of all kinds, Murphy Law has a small staff of three family attorneys and six office staff members including three personal assistants, two research clerks, and one administrative office person. The administrative office person is in charge of telephone calls, email inquiries, printing and mailing all bills and invoices, and also handles setting appointments for consultations with each attorney. That one person makes coffee for the staff, greets customers at the front desk, orders all the supplies for the office, and makes the weekly bank deposits.

With a workload of that size, the administrator can easily become overwhelmed. A backlog of invoices inevitably ensues and Murphy Law Firm begins to suffer from the lateness. Both client and staff lose in this scenario. The untimely receipt of invoices mailed to the clients begins to affect Murphy Law Firm’s bottom line. Here is the impression that the clients begin to form.

The Law Firm Does Not Need The Money: One message an attorney does not want to send to its clients is that Murphy Law does not need the money. This impression will create distrust in their clients about the fairness of the law firm’s rates and charges. It will also signal that the law firm is rich enough and clients will not be inclined to make payment on time.

The Law Firm Does Not Value Timely Payment: Another message an attorney cannot afford to send is that for some reason, the law firm does not care if bills are paid on time. Clients then do not feel rushed or pressured to perform when tasks are accomplished.

Both scenarios result in loss of income, disruption to cash flow, and loss of faith in the organization as a whole by the clients. No matter how excellent the attorney services might be, the lack of follow-through on the part of the administrator can lead to myriad problems that lead to the demise of the business. Let’s look at what it takes to stop that issue and restore cash flow to the operation.

The administrator needs a certain amount of time every week to update client files on the computer and update the number of hours and costs associated with each and every case. That staff member is heavily relied upon by the other assistants in the firm to keep perfect accounting, efficiently and accurately input each line item into the records, generate the updated invoices, print them, and then mail them to each client monthly.

In order to do that, the admin needs quiet time when not being interrupted by the phones, the walk-ins, the coffee making, the ordering of supplies, or the handling of various paperwork that piles up on the front desk. Interruptions lead to errors and a backlog of unfinished work. The admin feels stressed when things go wrong such as the computer being off-line, paper jams in the printer, the printer running out of ink, the paper running out, or supplies not being in the storeroom when such things occur.

Late nights at the office and rushing through the admin tasks only makes things worse and before long, the admin is so burned out that things begin to fall behind regularly. The one hundred client invoices take hours and hours to update, print and prepare for mailing each month. Within a short time, the dedicated admin starts to lose focus and decides to leave and give notice. Then Murphy Law Firm has to resource another admin, train them, get them up to speed, and all of that costs more time and money, which causes further disruptions to the invoicing process.

Outsourcing That Invoicing

One of the easiest and most successful ways to improve that entire scenario would be for Murphy Law to outsource their invoice printing and mailing services with a professional specialist such as Towne Mailer. Let’s look at how that process could relieve the admin, unburden the staff, instill confidence in the clients, and help to build a better business for Murphy Law Firm.

When the Murphy Law Firm admin partners with a professional invoice printing and mailing service, the only part of the invoicing that he or she must handle is updating the client records and uploading the documents to the Towne Mailer server. Towne Mailer takes over handling the printing, stuffing of envelopes, and mailing of the documents.

That one adjustment to the way the organization handles its paper invoice printing and mailing saves that admin dozens of hours each month. It is also more accurate, and the mailings become more streamlined and on-time. The admin uploads the invoices directly to Towne Mailer’s server, approves a proof of the correctly and professionally formatted invoices, and within twenty-four hours, Towne Mailer prints and mails the documents to the clients. The admin can get back to greeting clients, fielding new cases, and caring for the needs of the office staff.

Clients receive their perfectly formatted invoices at the same time every month, which instills faith and confidence in Murphy Law Firm. Client referrals begin to rise as happy clients tell their friends about the outstanding work that Murphy Law accomplishes. Instead of the business stumbling, it begins to stabilize as operations become more and more efficient. This is just one small example of how timely invoicing and outsourcing changes the entire dynamic in one small, family-owned and operated business such as Murphy Law Firm.

Outsourcing invoice printing and mailing services is quickly becoming the industry standard, rather than the exception to the rule. Your staff and clients alike will benefit greatly from your outsourcing your invoice printing and mailing with Towne Mailer. If you have a business that sends out regularly mailed invoices, you can benefit from partnering with a service such as Towne Mailer.

Who is Towne Mailer?

Towne Mailer is a professional invoice printing and mailing service owned and operated in Missoula, MT. With over 20 years in the printing and mailing business, Towne Mailer has grown from a small office with a handful of employees to a thriving specialty business working out of a 7,000 square foot warehouse in Montana with over a dozen staff members. Our state-of-the-art printing facility is quickly becoming known as one of the leaders of invoice printing and mailing in the country.

Our mission at Towne Mailer is the offer excellent printing and mailing services at reasonable prices to clients around the United States and beyond. Our streamlined services of bulk invoice printing and mailing help to reduce waste, costs, and to improve print quality and efficiency. At Towne Mailer, we pride ourselves on our extraordinary customer service, our high-quality printing, and our incredibly fast and reliable services. Your business or printing order is never too small or too large for us to handle and we take personal care of each and every client with respect and attention to every detail.

We offer a no-obligation quote service to help you decide how we can help you. If you are not completely thrilled with our service and print quality, you are never charged a penalty or fee to cancel the order after viewing the proof. When you reach out to us, one of our courteous staff members will help you determine your needs and get you started on the process right away. Call us directly or send us an email at Towne Mailer today and we will help you to avoid Murphy’s Law when it comes to printing and mailing your client invoices.