As a small business owner, you have a lot on your plate. From staying on top of digital marketing trends for your business to managing clients and customers, the size of your to-do list can be overwhelming. As such, saving time and automating tasks like invoicing can be a huge help.
In fact, many small businesses can benefit from online invoicing. They include:
- Creative small business owners such as copywriters, designers, photographers, graphic artists or event planners
- Service-based small businesses such as consultants, local repairman or computer repair specialists
- IT and tech-based small businesses such as SEO specialists and web developers
You can easily make the switch to online invoicing with Sprout Invoices and below, you’ll find examples on how to make Sprout Invoices work for you.
How Sprout Invoices Helps Designers and Agencies Get Paid Faster
If you’re a web or graphic designer or an agency, you probably require a deposit payment before the project starts. In some cases, you might even have a few payment dates throughout the project, especially if the project is a part of a higher-priced package.
The problem with most invoicing software is that there is no clear way to distinguish between a deposit and a regular payment. This often leaves the clients thinking they’ve paid the entire invoice when in fact, they’ve only made the payment for the deposit.
Sprout Invoices eliminates this problem by making it easy for your clients and customers to see when a deposit payment is being paid. The invoice will then automatically adjust the remaining balance so the clients know exactly how many more payments they have left and how much they still owe you.
On top of that, the due date on the invoice will adjust after a deposit payment has been made and your client will be notified when the next payment is due.
How to Use Sprout Invoices as a Local Repairman
Just because you provide services locally, that doesn’t mean you can’t use an online invoicing system. If you have a website for your business, you can easily install Sprout Invoices and starting generating quote estimates when someone inquires about your services. You can also easily send an invoice after your work is complete and all the repairs are done.
However, Sprout Invoices goes even further. Thanks to the Time Tracking feature, you can log time spent on a project, which is perfect if you bill by the hour as is often the case with local repairmen.
Another way Sprout Invoices helps you out is with the Estimate Range feature. This feature allows you to give your clients a better sense of the final price. It’s not unusual for some repairs to take longer than expected. Similarly, some repairs might seem complicated but once you’re at the scene, you realize it’s a simple fix.
No matter what the situation is, an estimate range allows you to avoid surprises and not leave your clients wondering why the final invoice is very different than the original quote.
How to Benefit From Sprout Invoices If You’re an SEO Specialist
There is no denying it that any SEO project is long-term work. After all, quality SEO services won’t see results immediately, but rather after a few months of constant, ongoing efforts.
As such, many SEO specialists invoice for the same amount and the same project on a monthly basis. Doing so manually takes up valuable time, not to mention you need to keep track of when different invoices for different clients are supposed to go out.
Sprout Invoices removes both headaches at once. First, once an estimate has been approved and a new client is in your system, the invoices are automatically generated. Second, you can set up a recurring invoice so that each month, on a schedule, a new invoice is generated so you never have to worry about keeping track of invoices and due dates.
Alternatively, you can use recurring payments instead of recurring invoices if you sell your services as a package that spans a few months and has split the payments into equal amounts. Recurring payments are also a great option to use if you have SEO clients on retainer who need minor SEO tweaks and optimizations each month.
How Writers Can Use Sprout Invoices to Streamline Their Invoicing System
As a writer, you probably work with a multitude of clients. But, you might also have a few clients for whom you’re working on several projects. For example, you could be in charge of writing their sales page copy, writing a weekly newsletter, and creating content for their blog.
Sprout Invoices can make your invoices more organized thanks to the Projects feature. You can easily categorize those writing tasks into projects. This allows clients to have a better overview of the invoice and it allows you to see exactly which projects and tasks are the most profitable.
Of course, using other features such as Estimate Ranges can also be helpful as often, writers charge by the word. Giving your client a range of prices that depend on how many words are needed for a particular project makes it easier to create a more accurate quote.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, Sprout Invoices is a versatile plugin that can be used in various situations and for various business types. Keep in mind that the features mentioned above can be used no matter what type of business you run. The best thing about Sprout Invoices is that you can customize it to fit in with your business needs so you can streamline your entire invoicing process.
Stop by our pricing page to find the best plan for you and then use the tips in this article to get started with Sprout Invoices.