Nothing angers a client or customer more than an incorrect bill. The hassle and confusion it can cause may even inspire someone to take their business elsewhere. Therefore, it is a wise business owner who takes whatever steps are necessary in order to ensure that billing errors are kept to a minimum.
Streamlining Processes
One of the best ways to reduce billing errors is to increase the operational efficiency of your billing department. Generally, this is something that can best be achieved with the help of outside professionals who are experts in removing institutional and organizational obstacles to creating a smoothly functioning workflow management system. Greater efficiency reduces error rates.
The Human Factor
No matter how well your billing department is organized, it is all for nothing if the people doing the billing make mistakes. Studies have shown that nearly a third of all billing errors are the result of human error, meaning that merely reorganizing your billing practices won’t eliminate these human mistakes. Since people cannot ever be made perfect, the solution is to have better tracking of the bills being prepared so that more eyes see each bill and can check them for accuracy. This may require a little more manpower, but it will be worth it.
Take It Outside
There may be times when it simply doesn’t make sense anymore to do your own billing. The time and hassle involved in such a routine task might be better spent by your employees on other aspects of your business. Contracting with a firm to do your billing for you also removes all the headaches and responsibility by making billing problems the concern of someone other than you and your employees. Since the firm you employ will want to keep their contract, they will try extra hard to keep errors to a minimum. If you aren’t satisfied, you can always sign with someone else.
Worth Fixing
If you have an unacceptably high rate of billing errors, it is well worth the trouble and expense of fixing the problem. Inaccurate bills cost you time, money and alienate your customers. Through reorganization, outside advice or handing the billing process over to a firm that specializes in billing, you can reduce billing errors as close as possible to zero. That way you will enjoy the win-win situation of having both better cash flow and happier customers.
