When you’re running a creative agency, getting paid on time is going to be one of your key goals. And the easier you make it for your clients to pay you, the more likely it is that they’ll cough up the requisite cash…without you having to threaten them with the thumbscrews!
But have you ever stopped to think about the best way to get paid?
Once you’ve sent your invoice there can be a long wait – with your fingers crossed behind your back – hoping that their finance team pay the invoice on time (…and you can guarantee the time you REALLY need the cash is the one occasion they’re late with payment).
Don’t despair though. My Accountancy Place has the answer to these potential cash-flow woes!
*drumroll*
And that’s getting paid by Direct Debit with GoCardless.
Make it easier to get paid with Direct Debit
Direct Debit is a brilliantly simple way for your clients to pay you. We all know it’s great, and far cheaper than running BACs payments through the banks (which can be ridiculously expensive). So, we have some great news – now you can take Direct Debit at a low cost to you AND your clients.
With GoCardless’ Direct Debit solution, your clients authorise you to take payments straight from their account (in much the way that your gym takes that £50 out of your personal account every month and makes you feel bad about the fact you’ve only run 5km and sat in the sauna for 3 hours).
There’s no waiting around to get paid. You just email your client an invoice in Xero, and set up your GoCardless to take the money that’s owed.
To quote that annoying meerkat, ‘Simples!’
And GoCardless integrates seamlessly with Xero (via the Directli plug-in), so all your transactions get pulled straight through. It’s straightforward, easy to use and hassle-free for your clients to set up at their end.
The benefits of using GoCardless to get paid
So, what are the real benefits of using GoCardless to take payments directly from your clients’ bank accounts? How is going the Direct Debit route going to improve your payment processes?
- Let’s take a look:Get paid on time, every time – With clients set up to automatically pay you every month, you get your cash on time, regular as clockwork. So you always know your cash-flow situation and can make confident forecasts of the cash you’ll have in the business.
- Pay less with fees capped at £2 per transaction – GoCardless has a completely transparent pricing system. You’re charged 1% of the transaction amount (capped at £2) with no hidden extra costs, which compares very favourably with other Direct Debit providers that can take between 35p to 50p per transaction, with additional charges for failures, reporting or one-off payments.
- Integrate your Direct Debit payments seamlessly with Xero – GoCardless uses the Directli Xero Add-on to play directly (no pun intended) into your Xero system. So invoices get raised in Xero, your payments get taken by GoCardless and the transactions all appear in Xero. Pretty nifty and something that will save you a lot of admin time.
- Spend less time on paperwork and setting up mandates – Many Direct Debit providers ask clients to fill out lengthy hard-copy mandates and then post them back. So it can be weeks before they’re ready to pay you. GoCardless does the whole process online with e-mandates and a 5-day turnaround.
- Take the payments you need, on whatever day you need them – You may occasionally want to take a one-off payment or move the day that a payment is taken. GoCardless is totally flexible with payment days and amounts. You can take payments on any day of the month, up to a total of £5,000 per customer.
- Know when payments have failed and act quickly to re-take them – If a payment collection fails, you need to know fast. The sooner you’re aware, the sooner you can re-arrange payment. GoCardless gives you automatic email notification of all failures as soon as they happen, plus detailed reporting as well.
- Take payments in euros across the Eurozone – GoCardless lets you take payments in the UK, Sweden and across the entire Eurozone using the Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA) system. It’s quick, simple and all done online through e-mandates. And they don’t charge you extra for this, so it’s a cost-effective way to trade in Europe!
Talk to us about using GoCardless for your agency
So, if you haven’t twigged yet, we think GoCardless really is the dog’s doo-dahs for improving your cash-flow situation and streamlining the whole process of taking regular payments.
For that 1% fee, you get an awful lot of bang for your buck. It’s cost-effective, the service is extremely flexible and the net effect on your cash position really can’t be underestimated.
Put Direct Debit in place as your payment option of choice, and you’ll soon see the impact it has on boosting the flow of money into the agency – and the confidence you can then have when investing in the future growth of the business.
If you’d like to hear more about how GoCardless can fit into your Xero system, get in touch to arrange a chat about Direct Debit payments.
