Don’t let clunky, old-school payment routines get in the way of growing your business easier and faster.
Time is money – any professional running a cleaning business knows that.
In the old days (and even still today), to get paid clients would leave you cash or mail you a check. That required ensuring your clients had cash withdrawn and ready; or that required clients to find their checkbook, write out what they owned, and remembered to leave it for pickup to put it in the mail. Extra work on your client’s end, all the while leaving you with further trips to the bank to deposit your hard earned dollars.
Electronic invoicing and payments have surfaced to slightly improve this laborious process. This puts less strain on clients (more time to pay) while giving them payment flexibility (pay with e-payment, not check). However this requires cleaners to sit in front of a computer after a long day’s work and send out invoices, which does not guarantee that payments will be made on time (or at all).
Technology has evolved once more! Tools like Square and Venmo allow cleaners to accept payments and credit cards from their phones while offering convenience to their clients. More advanced apps, like PocketSuite, even allow clients to reserve jobs and appointments upfront with credit card, enabling cleaners to process payments while walking out of each job without bothering the client one bit.
Mobile payment apps as a whole offer core benefits compared to what you might be using today, which in turn will help you run a more successful cleaning business.
Fast
Do a job, get paid. That’s how mobile payment apps drive business – disrupting traditional invoicing so there’s no cumbersome process or ongoing game of chase-and-remind for clients who are behind. QuickBooks’ reign of clunky/desktop invoicing is over! Mobile and instantaneous payment methods free up cleaners to put their time where it counts – on their actual work. With extra time on your hands, you can finish more jobs and win more clients.
Affordable
Typically, cleaners who wanted to accept credit and debit card payments had to invest in a merchant processor account. These accounts come riddled with extra fees (e.g., gateway fees, monthly minimum fees, statement fees) totaling between $25 to $35 per month. But now mobile payment options give you the ability to process credit card transactions without the infrastructure of a merchant processor account. Such mobile payment options free you from long-term contracts and numerous hidden fees, offering clear pricing and fast deposits for a fraction of the cost.
Convenient
Convenience for both you and your clients. While you’re enjoying a life without invoicing and waiting for payments, your clients will enjoy a life with a lot less check writing, cash withdrawing and wallet opening. It’s freedom for both parties. At the same time, mobile payment apps can protect cleaners from cancelled jobs or client no-shows, by securing customer credit cards upfront when reserving appointments, all the while delivering clients an “Uber-like” experience.
Mobile payment apps flat out just make life easier for today’s cleaning professional. Cleaners will find that this independence, flexibility and support that these apps give them when running a business, will yield them more time and money – to help drive their business towards success.
Sam Madden is the co-founder of PocketSuite and an innovator in technology-driven business tool development.
