Invoice Managment

cianclarke

Any of the pros in here care to share advice on how they manage their clients, and who owes what? I'm providing web design which is a once off fee, but also looking after their domain and hosting - which is a yearly invoice. There's also the likes of a support contract.

What I'm after is something that'l remind me to invoice clients whenever it's needed - and allow me to input what has and hasn't been paid.
The big thing is the reminders - it doesn't have to generate the invoices, and it doesn't have to go emailing them out because most of my clients never check their emails!

Thanks

The Corinthian

Use a spreadsheet.

phil

If I could find out who started the "Use a spreadsheet" or "Use Excel" answer for every problem they come across (password lists, stock information, client information), I'd thump them over the head. With a bat. Lots of times.

Freshbooks (www.freshbooks.com) is pretty straight-forward and they have a trial I'd recommend you look at. I'm sure there's plenty of other software out there for this kind of thing.

cianclarke

The Corinthian wrote:

Use a spreadsheet.

I am, but a spreadsheet isn't going to remind me when something is due.



Freshbooks looks okay, but the cheapest is $14 a month - not really worth it for me, as I'm not making that much a month to start with! Also I don't think I could stick having to input US format dates each time..!

(And it'l be OO Calc - I can't stick excel... )

phil

Cian,

Google about and find one. List to get you started here:

http://allanjosephbatac.com/blog/2007/06/10-top-personal-finance-management-web-applications-list.html

Phil.

The Corinthian

phil wrote:

If I could find out who started the "Use a spreadsheet" or "Use Excel" answer for every problem they come across (password lists, stock information, client information), I'd thump them over the head. With a bat. Lots of times.

A spreadsheet is the most basic solution which while not recommended for SME's, would be sufficient for many sole traders. Bare in mind, if he's not going to shell out €14 p.m. for a solution, then chances are he doesn't need to track that many invoices to begin with.

I'd certainly agree that a spreadsheet is not a solution for everything (storing passwords, WTF?), but they are very versatile tools that can be used in numerous ways if you're a one-man show.

cianclarke wrote:

I am, but a spreadsheet isn't going to remind me when something is due.

It can, it just depends on how much effort you want to put into your spreadsheet. Conditional formatting and appropriate formulas that check if something is overdue and then marks in in red is one option, writing a VBA macro that checks for you and prepares accordingly is another. Either way, the most you'd need to do is open it every morning to check what's overdue and what's not - and if you're not going to bother doing that, then forget about it TBH.

Another option is to write something with Access that could also be used for invoice generation and CRM purposes, but again it comes down to how complex are your invoicing needs are, what you're willing to spend or what effort you're willing to put into such a system.

Seth Brundle

phil wrote:

If I could find out who started the "Use a spreadsheet" or "Use Excel" answer for every problem they come across (password lists, stock information, client information), I'd thump them over the head. With a bat. Lots of times.

As it keeps me in work, I'd thank them!

cianclarke wrote:

I am, but a spreadsheet isn't going to remind me when something is due.

Why not - with a few formulas or a little bit of VBA it will even wish you happy birthday!

cianclarke

Conditional formatting you say? I must reconsider spreadsheets then, all I need is it to highlight red or something when the date is due... Cool, thanks.

The Corinthian wrote:

A spreadsheet is the most basic solution which while not recommended for SME's, would be sufficient for many sole traders. Bare in mind, if he's not going to shell out €14 p.m. for a solution, then chances are he doesn't need to track that many invoices to begin with.

I'd certainly agree that a spreadsheet is not a solution for everything (storing passwords, WTF?), but they are very versatile tools that can be used in numerous ways if you're a one-man show.

It can, it just depends on how much effort you want to put into your spreadsheet. Conditional formatting and appropriate formulas that check if something is overdue and then marks in in red is one option, writing a VBA macro that checks for you and prepares accordingly is another. Either way, the most you'd need to do is open it every morning to check what's overdue and what's not - and if you're not going to bother doing that, then forget about it TBH.

Another option is to write something with Access that could also be used for invoice generation and CRM purposes, but again it comes down to how complex are your invoicing needs are, what you're willing to spend or what effort you're willing to put into such a system.

failsafe

Do you use outlook? Just set a reminder! Or in excel have an "orderdate" column then "due date" beside it with a formula of something like "=duedate+30days". Then every morning/once a week just skim through the excel file and look for anything in or around that date.

Seth Brundle

A weekly scheduled task could be set up to open up the excel sheet which runs a macro that will check for any outstanding items, generate an email and let you know and/or generate the invoices and email them to the client!