Establishing a consumer-facing business involves a wide range of steps, which include creating products and services that customers need. There are also essential “behind the scenes” decisions you need to ensure solid financial management of your company.
#1: Establish Payment Options
There are many ways you can allow your customers to pay you. However, you need to set up accounts to allow you to accept most transactions. Think beyond the basics here. For example, do you wish to offer our customers a way to use automated payments? Perhaps you would like to set up tap and go type payments. Research your potential customers and their preferred payment methods, whether that’s online and/or in person.
#2: Get Taxes in Line Now
Establish a method for collecting and managing your business’s taxes. Do not overlook the importance of having an experienced professional managing the books, so hire an accountant and a bookkeeper to manage your financials for you. A professional can help you navigate through and stay up to date on the complexities of state-specific and federal tax regulations.
#3: Establish Payment Requirements
In most business to consumer situations, you’ll require payment at the time of service. However, many companies give credit both in-house and through third party providers. It is important for you to establish any payment requirements, such as how much is due, when it is due, and what happens if nonpayment occurs.
#4: Make Payment Easy
Having a web portal or an app to properly manage the payment process is a critical factor for most business owners. If you do not have a way for customers to make payments on their account online, you are missing out on a large portion of buyers. Vendors like Square, Stripe and Klarna make it easy for you to accept credit card payments online, and some, including Square and Klarna, as well as Afterpay and Affirm, allow consumers to pay installments over time.
#5: Establish a Collections Plan
Although you may not want to think about it, this is a common situation and need in today’s business world. Define what this needs to be—who will handle it, what type of collections activity you will use, and when accounts go into collections. You also want to facilitate a way for your customers to pay for their fees, if applicable. This doesn’t have to be resource-intensive nor hard to do with the right partner. That’s why at TrueAccord, our debt collection platform empowers businesses to easily place their accounts with us and recoup charged off losses.