Switching customers to Standing Order payments?

[RodwellWindowCleaning]

I have a part-time window cleaning business (circa 200 customers) and currently email each customer an invoice through QuikBooks after each clean.

All customers are on 8 week cleans (as this fits in with my primary employment shifts) but I’m considering transferring everyone to monthly standing order payments.

As everyone gets 6 x cleans a year, I know what their monthly payments would be and it’d be super helpful having a stable amount coming in each month.

Has anyone done this previously and if so, did you get any resistance from customers? Trying to make it easy for everyone, myself included so on paper this seems like a good idea.

FYI, I pre-book everyone in one clean in advance, so customers are well aware of when their next clean is scheduled. I also text customers the day before to remind them I’m coming round, which people like.

Thanks in advance for your input.

 

[P4dstar]

My customers are primarily on direct debit with GC. They are billed after each clean and the monies leave their account 3-5 days later. I am in control, not the customer. A standing order requires the customer to do something. Best of luck getting 200 people to all do what you want.

I understand what you’re suggesting, splitting the cost over 12 months for ease. Some customers would appreciate it. I have considered this sort of set up and believe it would reduce cancellations and skipped cleans. There are loads of anomalies though. Examples…

• Some people are paid weekly
• People who are paid monthly aren’t paid on the same day
• Do they pay in advance or in arrears
• Admin involved if the customer cancels but has made one month worth of payment not the second
• Emergencies happen, roof tiles blow off and customer needs to skip a clean because they have scaffolding up for example

That’s just a handful. I understand what you’re saying about consistent income but it’s our job as business owners to manage that. GoCardless is a good way to control cash flow but a monthly subscription isn’t IMHO

 

[dazmond]

I have a part-time window cleaning business (circa 200 customers) and currently email each customer an invoice through QuikBooks after each clean.

All customers are on 8 week cleans (as this fits in with my primary employment shifts) but I’m considering transferring everyone to monthly standing order payments.

As everyone gets 6 x cleans a year, I know what their monthly payments would be and it’d be super helpful having a stable amount coming in each month.

Has anyone done this previously and if so, did you get any resistance from customers? Trying to make it easy for everyone, myself included so on paper this seems like a good idea.

FYI, I pre-book everyone in one clean in advance, so customers are well aware of when their next clean is scheduled. I also text customers the day before to remind them I’m coming round, which people like.

Thanks in advance for your input.

Just bill them when you ve cleaned them like you have been doing. Keep it simple.

It's up to you to sort your finances out around customer payments.

You will confuse customers if you try and put them on monthly standing orders when you clean theirs every 2 months. It's a bad idea IMO