This is a sample plan. The answers are made up.
Do this first
Make finished work ready to bill the same day.
Why
- Bills wait on details from the people who did the work. (you checked)
- Bills often take more than a week to go out. (you checked)
- The price and what’s included were agreed in writing first. (you checked)
A reminder to pay won’t help until the bill goes out.
- Who does it
- The person in charge.
- Done means
- Each visit you checked has a bill status. Each gap has an owner and a next step.
Where you stand
3 working, 1 waiting on you, 2 not checked.
- Bills have an ownerWorking (you checked)
- Work ready to bill is on one listWorking (you checked)
- Bills go out soon after the workWaiting on you (you checked)
- Due dates are clear and keptNot checked
- Customers know how to payNot checked
- The price was agreed firstWorking (you checked)
Do this today
- List your ten most recent visits. Add older ones that are still open.
- Match each one across your records, and put them on one sheet.
- Write the billing point date and the bill date for each one.
- For each one, write the details billing needs. Mark which ones are missing.
- Mark where each one stands. It may be ready to bill or missing a detail. It may be waiting on the customer, or in question.
Your records support this, so you can start the change while you check.
Use what you find
| What you find | Your next step |
|---|---|
| What you find: Bills wait on details from the work. | Your next step: If details keep going missing, agree a short list of what billing needs. Use it every time. |
| What you find: Bills go out soon after the billing point. | Your next step: If bills already go out soon after the billing point, look at the next step. It starts once the bill goes out. |
| What you find: If you can’t tell | Your next step: Write the billing point date and the bill date for two more weeks. |
Your list
Sheet: Ready-to-bill list
This list is made up. It is for Fresh Start Home Cleaning.
| Found in | Visit | Billing point met? | Details billing needs | Amount checked? | Open issue | Owner | Next action | By when |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Found in: Visit notes | Visit: Deep clean, Lee | Billing point met?: Yes, Mon | Details billing needs: Hours on site | Amount checked?: Not yet | Open issue: None | Owner: Jo | Next action: Get the detail from whoever did the work | By when: Tue |
| Found in: Billing app | Visit: Weekly clean, Ortiz | Billing point met?: Yes, Tue | Details billing needs: All in | Amount checked?: Yes | Open issue: None | Owner: Jo | Next action: Check it against the terms, then send the bill | By when: Wed |
Your blank copy, 8 rows
What you type here stays on this page. It is gone if you reload. Print or copy it to keep it.
A note you can use
Agree first which details billing needs. Fill in the blanks with your own.
Fill in the parts in [brackets] before you send it.
Check again
When: In two weeks.
Count these real cases:
- Ready, not billed: work past the billing point, with no bill yet.
- Bill sent: the customer has the bill. It shows the amount, the due date and how to pay.
- Time to bill: days from the billing point to the bill going out.
- Detail back: a detail was missing. The person who did the work sent it in.
- Cases still open:
- Keep cases with no outcome yet in their own group. They aren’t lost.
- Later:
- Track late payments on their own. A bill sent sooner is not proof it will be paid. On your path, each of these counts on its own: work done, billed, then paid.
Ten recent cases show what to fix. They are not a rate for the whole business.
Change the plan if
- If the check finds a gap:
- If details keep going missing, agree a short list of what billing needs. Use it every time.
- If it finds no gap:
- If bills already go out soon after the billing point, look at the next step. It starts once the bill goes out.
- If you can’t tell:
- Write the billing point date and the bill date for two more weeks.
The whole fix
- Make finished work ready to bill the same day.Done when: Each visit you checked has a bill status. Each gap has an owner and a next step.
- Use the list for one service this week. Agree first which details billing needs.Done when: you have checked again on your review day.
- Make it how you work: finished work goes on the ready-to-bill list the same day. Every detail billing needs goes with it.Done when: two weeks pass and no case is missed.
How we can help
Use this plan
You can do this yourself.
The steps above are all you need to start. If you want a second look, bring your ready-to-bill list to the free review.
You can also use this plan on your own.
Why this plan
Your first answers picked one area to start with. Then a set of written rules used your later answers to pick the first step. People wrote and checked every rule and every sentence. Your answers stayed in this tab until the plan was shown.
The answers this plan used
- What would help most right now?
- Work done and paid for on time.
- How do most customers buy from you?
- A service that goes on, like a membership.
- Have people paid for this service yet?
- Yes, more than once.
- Could you take on more of the right work next month?
- No, we are full.
- Do enough of the right people ask about your work?
- Yes, for the work we can take on.
- What has gone on lately?
- Payment is late.
- Start here?
- Get paid for the work.
- When should the bill go out for this work?
- When the work is done.
- Where does the money get stuck?
- The work is done, but the bill hasn’t gone out.
- How many bills went out, or should have, in the last 30 days?
- 15 to 49.
- Who sends the bills?
- One person on my team does it, with no backup.
- Where can you see which work is ready to bill, and who owns it?
- A few places that we can match up.
- Once the work is done, how long until the bill goes out?
- More than a week.
- Did they agree to the price, and to what was in it, before you started?
- Yes, in writing.
- What is the bill waiting for?
- Details from the people who did the work.
- What have you checked to back up these answers?
- Records for the recent bills in this plan.