The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Billers

When I visit with customers or prospects, I am often asked about the best practices of our customer base and how they compare to the practices of successful organizations.  It’s a great question. We all want to know where we stand when we’re compared to the best.  Whether it is in our personal or business achievement, we want to know how we stand against those in the top of their fields.  

So with that thought in mind, I am going to share with you the seven best practices that I have observed from more than 1,300 Billtrust customers.

1. Our customers give their customers options in receiving and paying their bills. They recognize that some customers still like paper, some prefer to use a portal approach, and others would like to get an email of the bill sent to them. Like all consumers, your customers want these options.
2. Our most efficient customers have realized the importance of a single integrated solution that includes invoicing, payments and cash application solutions. They understand that weaving point solutions together is not an effective method of reducing costs.  
3. Our customers recognize the importance of PCI compliance and are focused on ensuring that their solution provides the highest level of security for themselves as well as their customers.
4. They have become focused on driving their paper customers onto an electronic delivery channel with either email presentment or a branded portal.
5. While they recognize that the presentment is important they don’t forget about the payment piece of the puzzle. Our customers know that adding the second “P” to the Presentment and Payment model further drives down cost as well as creates a deeper sense of loyalty with their customer base.
6. The most effective billers get that billing is not just focused on the accounts receivable (AR) and accounts payable (AP) side of the business. Cash flow has a deeper impact on customer care, sales, compliance and many other critical areas. When done right, all aspects of invoicing and payment create tremendous efficiency within the organization.
7. Finally,  they recognize the importance of being able to automate the posting of cash for both their paper and electronic payments seeking out solutions that will allow them to make use of cash faster.My suggestion to organizations that are looking to improve their operational efficiencies within their company is to begin to ask themselves how many of these best practices are they following in their invoice to cash process?

Article by Kirk Dauksavage, Chief Revenue Officer at Billtrust