Making the Leap to Using  Contractor Payment Software

Using contractor payment software can make life easier and more profitable for both you and your sales team. Giving your team the ability to take payment via credit card and ACH, and perhaps even offer financing options, will streamline and accelerate your sales process and drive business growth. 

Example: Mark runs the sales team for a mid-size remodel contractor. A couple of years ago, Mark and his team were doing well. They closed a fair number of deals, and they were growing. But they were constantly dealing with aggravations associated with their payment process. 

Most of their customers paid with a check. A few even paid cash. Keeping track of the payments, the checks, and the money was an entirely manual process, which took a lot of time and was prone to human error. 

Traditional vs digital payments

Their basic process often ended up looking something like this:

1. Close the deal and sign the contract!
2. The sales rep asks for payment, for which the client writes a check.
3. The sales rep puts the check in his pocket and makes a mental note to take the check back to the office manager at the HQ.
4. The sales meeting ran a bit long, so the sales rep is late for his son’s baseball game.
5. Hurry to get to the baseball game, arriving in the 3rd inning. 
6. Momentarily forget about the check (more focused on avoiding a huge marital rift TBH). 
7. Next day, follow the appointments set in the CRM. 
8. Completely forget about the check. 
9. Finish out the week and hit the weekend!
10. That check is now the furthest thing from our friendly sales rep’s thought process.
11. During the Monday sales meeting, Mark asks the rep a few questions about last week’s sales activities. Uh oh.
12. Rep can’t remember where the check is. Double uh oh.
13. Come to think of it, the sales rep can’t remember if the customer even wrote a check—but doesn’t want to admit this to Mark.
14. The sales rep calls the customer and says, “Hey, when can I come by and pick up your down payment?” 
15. Customer confidence and excitement deflate.

At an industry event, Mark had a conversation with several of his peers in the space and realized that they were growing at a faster pace than his company, and didn’t seem to have the same frustration with managing payments. 

The fastest-growing businesses had many of the features that Mark focused on:

• • • Great hiring and onboarding 
    • Excellent, ongoing sales training
    • Effective incentive plans
    • Strong use of integrated technology like CRM, sales platform, and project management

But there was one key difference: Mark’s peers were also using a contractor payment software that allowed their reps to immediately process credit payments during their sales meetings, as soon as they closed their deals.

Why contractor payment software is essential today

Now, Mark’s basic process looks like this:

1. Close the deal, sign the contract, and take the customer’s credit card number (all in one platform).
2. The payment terms are established upfront, so the credit card is billed for the amount of the down payment.
3. Sales meetings are much faster, and the sales reps are no longer late to their son’s games.
4. Progress payments are processed and the credit card is billed according to the schedule agreed upon upfront. 
5. The customer has a great experience and loves how easy the process is. 
6. The customer gives a great referral to their neighbor… the process begins again. 

Features to look for in contractor payment software

Contractor payment software needs to be secure. You’ve seen the news reports on data breaches that have cost companies millions. 

Additionally, contractor payment software needs to be easy to use. If the new process or solution is aggravating or inefficient, there’s a good chance your sales team won’t use it. 

The best contractor payment solutions will make your sales team more effective, allowing them to close more and bigger deals, and they will cut down on errors in the sales process. 

Transitioning to a more efficient payment future

One Click Contractor’s payment feature allows your sales team to put together accurate estimates in about 3 minutes (instead of hours doing it the old-fashioned way). It also allows your team to take signatures electronically and process payments in a single, intuitive tool. 

One Click also allows you to offer financing options to your customers. Like the payments feature, financing is incorporated into the estimate and proposal tool, so you and your sales team can show customers multiple offers from banks to take out a loan for remodeling projects. 

The end result is a powerful tool that allows you to grow your business bigger, faster, and stronger.