PestBossPro Blog — Pest Control Software

Invoicing and Card on File in Pest Control Software

Quarterly pest control is steady work, but it can be slow money. Four visits a year, four invoices, four chances for a check to get lost or a customer to forget. Small companies end up spending evenings chasing small balances. Invoicing in pest control software is about making the money as automatic as the schedule.

The Last Step of Every Visit

Texts, covered in Texting and Customer Alerts in Pest Control Software, get the tech to the property. Invoicing is what happens when the tech taps Complete.

In PestBossPro, a completed job creates its invoice. The invoice carries the line items for the services done, with sales tax. Then, depending on how the customer pays, it gets charged, sent or added to a monthly statement.

Card on File

The single biggest change most small pest companies can make to their cash flow is getting recurring customers on a card on file. Once the card is saved, you can:

• Auto-charge on completion — the tech taps Complete, the card is charged and the invoice is created before the truck leaves.
• Auto-charge on a schedule — for customers or programs billed on set dates rather than per visit.

Customers can update their own card in the customer app, which saves the office from collecting new card numbers by phone every time one expires. Ask for the card at sign-up, when the customer is already saying yes.

Online Payment for Everyone Else

Not everyone will put a card on file. For those customers, the invoice can be paid online. They get the invoice, click through and pay. It also shows in the customer app with their other invoices.

Online payment beats a mailed invoice and a check for both sides. The customer pays in a minute, and you aren't driving to the bank.

Past-Due Follow-Up

Some invoices still won't get paid on time. PestBossPro handles past-due follow-up so overdue invoices get a reminder without someone in the office having to notice and send it by hand.

The point isn't to be aggressive with customers. It's to make sure nobody falls through the cracks because the office was busy. Most late payers just forgot.

Prepayments for Programs

Some customers like to pay for a whole program up front — a mosquito season, or a year of quarterly service. PestBossPro supports prepayments for programs, so the money is recorded once and applied as the visits happen.

Prepayment also helps you. Money in the spring covers the busy season, and a prepaid customer is a committed customer. Package plans for multi-visit programs pair naturally with it.

Commercial Accounts and Monthly Statements

Commercial customers often work differently. A restaurant group with five locations doesn't want five invoices every month; they want one statement. In PestBossPro, an account set to Monthly gets one statement each month covering every location. That's covered in detail next in Monthly Statements for Commercial Pest Control Accounts: One Bill for Every Location.

Sales Tax, Line Items and Currency

Invoices carry line items and sales tax, so the customer sees what they paid for: “Quarterly exterior service,” “Wasp nest removal,” “Mosquito treatment.” Whether and how pest control is taxed depends on where you work, so set your tax up the way your accountant advises.

PestBossPro works in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK and bills customers in their own currency.

Asking for the Card

Many owners hesitate to ask customers for a card on file. In practice, most recurring customers prefer it: no checks to mail, no invoices to remember, and a receipt after each visit. The easiest time to ask is at sign-up, when the customer approves the estimate. Explain it simply: “We charge the card on file after each quarterly service and email you the invoice.” For existing customers, ask at the next visit or send a text pointing them to the customer app, where they can add a card themselves. Over a season or two, most of a residential book can move to card on file, and the evenings spent chasing payments get much shorter.

Making Money as Automatic as the Schedule

The goal is simple: a quarterly account comes due, gets routed, gets treated, gets recorded and gets paid, all without anyone in the office touching it. Card on file with auto-charge on completion gets most recurring residential accounts there. Online payment and past-due follow-up cover the rest.

For how billing ties into the Waiting List, the tech app and records, see the PestBossPro pest control software page.