Being a small business is incredibly rewarding. You have the freedom to choose projects, set your own hours, and do the work you love. But, as rewarding as it is, it can also be challenging at times, especially when it comes to getting paid.
Getting paid regularly is one of the most common problems many small business face. Sometimes, a client forgets which causes late payments, and then, there are times when you forget to invoice a client because you’re juggling multiple projects and have a lot on your plate.
Wouldn’t it be easier if you could automate the process of getting paid, from the moment you receive a quote request down to the moment you send an invoice? As it turns out, there is a solution that allows you to do just that.
In this post, we’ll talk about common problems with invoicing systems, discuss how you can automate the process, and show you a tool that will help you get paid on the regular.
Four Common Problems With Invoicing Systems
When it comes to billing clients, there is no shortage of invoicing systems. However, most of those systems require you to manually create an invoice as well as a new client, each time someone requests a quote on your website. On top of that, you also have to manually create the quote, wait for the client to approve it, and then manually send the invoice.
Other common problems include:
- Lack of different payment methods which causes back and forth with clients who want to use their own payment method
- No clear way to indicate the difference between a deposit and a final payment which causes confusion and clients often think they’ve already paid the whole amount
- Brand confusion and lack of trust because the invoicing system takes them off your website
How to Automate Getting Paid
As mentioned earlier, a better way would be to automate the entire process of getting paid. The good news is that there is a way to do so with Sprout Invoices.
Sprout Invoices is a premium WordPress plugin that simplifies and automates the way freelancers get paid. The plugin integrates with your WordPress website which means the entire payment process can be handled straight from your WordPress dashboard. Let’s take a look at how Sprout Invoices works and what it offers.
What Does the Sprout Invoices Plugin Offer?
Once you purchase Sprout Invoices and install the plugin on your site, you can customize the plugin to work for you. When a prospective client comes to your site and fills out a quote request, the form automatically submits that information to Sprout Invoices. The plugin then creates a new client as well as a corresponding quote.
You can then manually review the estimate, adjust if necessary, and send it to your client. All that’s left for the client to do is to review the invoice on their end and make a payment. Your clients can also see pending estimates as well as a complete history of their payments through their client dashboard. They can access their dashboard via username and password or via private URL.
The plugin integrates with some of the most popular form plugins such as Gravity Forms, Ninja Forms, and Formidable.
Other key features of the plugin include:
- Fully customizable invoices and invoice templates so you can use your own branding
- Customizable notifications that can be sent as plain text or HTML
- Different payments supported: PayPal, Stripe, Square, WooCommerce, and more
- The ability to create payment terms for your clients, with specific payment amounts, due dates, and past due fees
- Integration with Zapier which means you can connect Sprout Invoices with more than 300 other apps and tools such as Basecamp or Quickbooks Online
- You can create recurring subscriptions for monthly retainers which will be sent out automatically so you don’t have to worry about having to create a manual invoice at the beginning or end of each month
With Sprout Invoices, everything stays on your website and under your brand name so there is no risk of clients not recognizing an invoice that came from you. You can rely on one plugin to handle the entirety of your billing process and integrate it with other tools that you use to run your business.
It’s also worth mentioning that Sprout Invoices is more affordable than other similar tools. Let’s take a look at the different license options that Sprout Invoices offers.
License Options
Sprout Invoices is available in four licenses.
- Basic – the Basic plan is a great choice if you’re a small business or a freelancer just getting started. You get access to all the essential features such as Paypal payments, client dashboards, recurring invoicing, and payment reports.
- Plus – the Plus plan is suitable for larger businesses that need advanced features such as payment terms and client credits as well as the ability to track time spent on projects for more flexibility and control over your payment process.
- Pro – the Pro plan is suitable for businesses and corporations that want to accept bank transfers and have the ability to save different client profiles and set automatic payments.
- Agency – lastly, the Agency plan is perfect for agencies and developers that need to implement a payment solution on multiple sites or want to use it in a multisite WordPress installation.
You can see a complete list of features and pricing options on Sprout Invoices pricing page.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, getting paid on a regular basis doesn’t have to be a tedious process. In fact, with the right tools, you can have the whole process automated, from the moment a client requests a quote to the moment you send the invoice. Give Sprout Invoices a try and break out of the feast and famine cycle.