Most companies think of billing as simply something they need to do in order to get paid by customers. However, that is a short-sighted concept that ignores the fact that a customer is virtually certain to view their invoice, even if only to look for mistakes. The company is therefore not capitalizing on an opportunity to communicate with their customer when they have their attention. These opportunities include:

• Thanking the customer for their business
• Offering the customer a loyalty discount
• Introducing the customer to a new product or service
• Suggesting additional products or services the customer may be interested in
• Offering suggestions for how the customer could save money
• Providing the abliity for customers to analyze their usage
• Enabling customers to easily integrate the invoice into their own accounting or Accounts Payable systems

Simply sending an invoice to a customer each month is a wasted opportunity and does not demonstrate to the customer that their business is truly appreciated as an individual customer.

More importantly, a static invoice does not differentiate your company from your competition. It does not enable the customer to analyze their bill to better understand their own expenses. For instance, many credit card companies send end-of-year statements which categorizes your spending for the year.

Credit card companies are also masters at adding value to heir billing product. Most statements include a variety of other offers for trials of a new service, products based on reward points, or other random items from thid parties. This provides advertising revenue to the credit card company plus a commission if the customer makes a purchase. The customer also appreciates the discounts and the ease of purchasing.

Every opportunity to communicate with the customer is an opportunity to sell additional products or services, provide better service, increase customer satisfaction and reduce customer churn. Your bill should be more than just a reminder of how much your service costs!

>> Continue to Competitive Advantage.