One of the biggest challenges for small business owners is eliminating the labor-intensive processes of daily operations. And one of these operations is the many tasks in accounting.
A new feature from FreshBooks is going to help businesses by setting up a retainer and recurring payments from clients. This will greatly lower the administrative overhead of regular payments, subscriptions or retainers.
FreshBooks Retainer Features
By streamlining this part of the invoicing and accounting process, owners can focus on core competencies to grow their business. This is exactly what FreshBooks CEO and Co-founder, Mike McDerment, addressed in the press release.
McDerment says, “Along with helping you run a more profitable business, retainers-based arrangements help you better serve your clients. Conversations are focused on the work, not payment collection.” Adding, “This elevates your relationship from service provider to trusted partner — and that’s where the magic happens.”
As more of the financial transactions a business carries out are made to freelancers, gig workers, and ecommerce companies, it is important to automate the processes. This is because everyone across the value chain now expects this level of efficiency. Consumers, partners, suppliers, and the workforce are going to choose a brand based on the way it simplifies doing business.
The New Feature
The new FreshBooks Retainers feature is going to make it much easier to manage the progress of a project. Service-based businesses can now track hours against allotted time and make payments automatically.
With this tool in place, a business can streamline invoicing, time-tracking, project management and accounting in one place. This will reduce the time you have to spend on administrative tasks.
When you collect recurring client payments in advance it will stabilize your income. Not only that but each month you will gain more insights about a project. With this information, you can calculate future profitability for better financial forecasting.
What are Retainers?
When you get a retainer from a client, you have more control of the accounts receivable. So, a retainer helps you become more efficient with the clients and people you work with.
Once you create a retainer, you can bill your client for a fixed amount upfront and track time towards the retainer. At the end of the month you can bill for excess time in a single invoice. And if there is a surplus, it can be applied towards the next month or refunded to the client.
Additionally, a retainer puts you and your client on the same page before you start a project. It provides a more accurate template for the amount, overtime billing and details about your service. This eliminates the awkward scenarios which come about when nothing is documented.
You and your business will look professional from beginning to end.
The Retainers feature is available to FreshBooks customers using Plus and Premium accounts.
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