Guide to Starting a Business - Billing Service

Description of Job

• Aggregate accounts and take over billing for products and services.
• Collect payments and post them to proper accounts.
• Monitor accounts receivable and report to client about any problematic customers.
• Work with collection agencies when appropriate.

The Need

Many businesses and professionals are fully dedicated to the services they provide or the products they sell. At some smaller companies, there is much less interest in, and sometimes inadequate attention paid to, billing customers and collecting the money—tasks that keep the whole enterprise afloat.

Even when a company is fully prepared to send bills and collect revenues with well-trained staff and state-of-the-art systems, it might not make economic sense to do so.

The job of the independent billing service is to devote full attention to accounts receivable as needed, which eliminates the need for a company to hire and pay salary and benefits for a full-time employee. Your basic pitch is this:

Your services as an outside billing agency will cost less than doing the work inhouse, and/or your agency will do a better job of managing receivables (and working with a collection agency when necessary). If you can’t make that claim, you have no appeal to the client.

You can also appeal to small businesses that have suffered from turnover in their billing departments; you should be able to promise that services will be standardized and available every business day of the week.

Challenges

You’ll need to mesh your experience and practices with the systems and methods of your client. Among special challenges: not ruffling the feathers of valued customers who are used to preferential treatment. There may also be times when you’ll have to play the heavy in dealing with certain customers.

Some billing scenarios are much more complex than others. Medical practices, for example, have to deal with a dizzying collection of federal and state government agencies, major insurance companies, union and association medical plans, and private payers. If you have previous experience in the medical field, you may be able to pick up doctors as clients; if not, medical billing is probably not the place to start.

Know the Territory

You must be current on computer communications, billing software, and accounts receivable programs. Most accounting or billing programs can be customized with modules that adapt them to the specific needs of particular types of businesses.

The best qualification for this sort of job is your previous experience working in an accounting or billing department.

You must promise and demonstrate discretion in managing the private affairs of your clients, and you will be subject to audit by your client’s accountant or other representative.

Your client must be capable of transmitting the raw data for billing in an efficient manner. The state-of-the-art way is to send files to your office via the Internet. Less modern, but still relatively common, is to physically ship boxes of paper invoices that you will have to enter into your computer system and process.

How to Get Started

Contact area businesses to let them know of your credentials and availability.

Place ads in business publications and general newspapers.

Ask satisfied clients to recommend your services to other businesses; give them a bonus or a discount for any new business they bring to you.

Up-front Expenses

You’ll need a current PC with access to the Internet, standard accounting or accounts receivable software, and a printer capable of producing invoices, labels, and envelopes for mailing. If your client requires you to use a specific software program, you may have to purchase and learn to use that package.

Other expenses include advertising and promotion.

How Much to Charge

The most common billing scheme for small businesses is to charge by the hour or to offer a flat rate based on the number of bills processed per week or per month. Add to the bill the cost of paper and envelopes, postage, phone calls, and any special services requested by the client; alternatively, those expenses could be built into the hourly or flat rate.

Legal and Insurance Issues

Special notes: In dealing with your client’s property, seek to limit your liability for damage or loss to the actual replacement value of items in your possession.

You should protect yourself against claims for sentimental value or loss of use.