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Symptoms of a Billings & Payment Problem

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This document discusses the symptoms that indicate a company may have problems with its billing and payment processes. It identifies four main symptoms: 1) average interchange fees of 2.5% or higher, 2) inability to identify or quantify best customers, 3) lack of central management of most important accounts, and 4) little control over customers' sales experiences. Implementing a strategic billing and payments solution can help address these problems by decreasing fees, standardizing processes, personalizing customer experiences, and driving new revenue.

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Symptoms of a Billings & Payment Problem
Cost-drivers and Benefit-opportunities of Strategic Billing and Payments Transaction data holds opportunity to: Generate business, product, and customer insight, Deliver corporate cost-savings, and Powerful business analysis tools. Billing and payment processes effect your ability to optimize opportunity. This paper identifies the warning signs of a billing and payment problem and clarifies the cost drivers that suggest the need for a new billing and payment solution.
Symptoms of a Billing and Payments Problem Symptom #1: Your Average Interchange Fees are 2.5% or Higher. Symptom #2: You Cannot Identify or Quantify Your Best Customers. Symptom #3: Your Most Important Accounts are not Centrally-Managed. Symptom #4: You Have Little to No Control Over your Customers¡¯ Sales Experience.
The fee charged to a merchant for each transaction processed varies based upon factors like: ? Type of card used, ? Type of merchant at which the card is used, and ? Volume of transactions that merchant generates. P-Card users drive up your average cost of transaction with little additional benefit to your business. In fact, merchants often cite Interchange fees and merchant service fees as reasons for non-acceptance of P-Cards and other commercial payment cards. Symptom #1: Your Average Interchange Fees are 2.5% or Higher. Among the most expensive type of charge card to process is the P-Card, a payment method popular among commercial customers because of its purchasing controls and reporting options.
If individual stores or independent sales distributors are not Level III data capable, or if transaction data is not filtered to a central database, your company could be missing out on significant incremental sales opportunities. Symptom #2: You Cannot Identify or Quantify Your Best Customers. Transaction data provides foundational information used to optimize the lifetime value of existing customers and to target new customers. At any given time, a company should have the ability to: Pin-point its top five commercial customers, Identify trends in purchasing behaviors at the product level, and Map transaction growth over time.
Commercial customers demand more than high-quality products, and they represent the buying power to negotiate specialized pricing based upon: ? Annual spend with your company, ? Specific product quantities, ? Geographic needs, and/or ? Seasonal purchasing requirements. Multiply this scenario by tens, hundreds, or thousands and tracking of overall customer value becomes cumbersome and inefficient. Symptom #3: Your Most Important Accounts are not Centrally-Managed. Without centralized customer transaction data, you may have to rely on your customer¡¯s accounting records rather than your own to determine an appropriate pricing-model or benefits package for a valued customer.
Individual merchants may have varied levels of opportunity to develop relationships with white-glove commercial accounts with benefits including: ? Specialized product pricing or rewards, ? Consolidated bilings, and/or ? Monthly purchasing reports. Individual relationships between sales locations and the company may minimize the customers¡¯ actual value to your business. Symptom #4: You Have Little to No Control Over Your Customers¡¯ Sales Experience. VIP treatment received from one merchant often cannot be replicated throughout the sales network. Despite your customers¡¯ continued loyalty, their pricing, rewards system or billing benefits may not always be honored.
The Cost Benefit of a Billing and Payment Solution. The process of billing and payments has long been considered a cost-center - a tedious administrative process necessary to collect monies owed. A properly implemented billing and payment solution, however, can help your business: Decrease transaction fees, Standardize sales processes, Personalize the customer experience, and Drive incremental revenue. In today¡¯s data-driven business environment, classifying billing and payments as a cost-center could cost your company significant dollars in the long-run.
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Symptoms of a Billings & Payment Problem

  • 1. Symptoms of a Billings & Payment Problem
  • 2. Cost-drivers and Benefit-opportunities of Strategic Billing and Payments Transaction data holds opportunity to: Generate business, product, and customer insight, Deliver corporate cost-savings, and Powerful business analysis tools. Billing and payment processes effect your ability to optimize opportunity. This paper identifies the warning signs of a billing and payment problem and clarifies the cost drivers that suggest the need for a new billing and payment solution.
  • 3. Symptoms of a Billing and Payments Problem Symptom #1: Your Average Interchange Fees are 2.5% or Higher. Symptom #2: You Cannot Identify or Quantify Your Best Customers. Symptom #3: Your Most Important Accounts are not Centrally-Managed. Symptom #4: You Have Little to No Control Over your Customers¡¯ Sales Experience.
  • 4. The fee charged to a merchant for each transaction processed varies based upon factors like: ? Type of card used, ? Type of merchant at which the card is used, and ? Volume of transactions that merchant generates. P-Card users drive up your average cost of transaction with little additional benefit to your business. In fact, merchants often cite Interchange fees and merchant service fees as reasons for non-acceptance of P-Cards and other commercial payment cards. Symptom #1: Your Average Interchange Fees are 2.5% or Higher. Among the most expensive type of charge card to process is the P-Card, a payment method popular among commercial customers because of its purchasing controls and reporting options.
  • 5. If individual stores or independent sales distributors are not Level III data capable, or if transaction data is not filtered to a central database, your company could be missing out on significant incremental sales opportunities. Symptom #2: You Cannot Identify or Quantify Your Best Customers. Transaction data provides foundational information used to optimize the lifetime value of existing customers and to target new customers. At any given time, a company should have the ability to: Pin-point its top five commercial customers, Identify trends in purchasing behaviors at the product level, and Map transaction growth over time.
  • 6. Commercial customers demand more than high-quality products, and they represent the buying power to negotiate specialized pricing based upon: ? Annual spend with your company, ? Specific product quantities, ? Geographic needs, and/or ? Seasonal purchasing requirements. Multiply this scenario by tens, hundreds, or thousands and tracking of overall customer value becomes cumbersome and inefficient. Symptom #3: Your Most Important Accounts are not Centrally-Managed. Without centralized customer transaction data, you may have to rely on your customer¡¯s accounting records rather than your own to determine an appropriate pricing-model or benefits package for a valued customer.
  • 7. Individual merchants may have varied levels of opportunity to develop relationships with white-glove commercial accounts with benefits including: ? Specialized product pricing or rewards, ? Consolidated bilings, and/or ? Monthly purchasing reports. Individual relationships between sales locations and the company may minimize the customers¡¯ actual value to your business. Symptom #4: You Have Little to No Control Over Your Customers¡¯ Sales Experience. VIP treatment received from one merchant often cannot be replicated throughout the sales network. Despite your customers¡¯ continued loyalty, their pricing, rewards system or billing benefits may not always be honored.
  • 8. The Cost Benefit of a Billing and Payment Solution. The process of billing and payments has long been considered a cost-center - a tedious administrative process necessary to collect monies owed. A properly implemented billing and payment solution, however, can help your business: Decrease transaction fees, Standardize sales processes, Personalize the customer experience, and Drive incremental revenue. In today¡¯s data-driven business environment, classifying billing and payments as a cost-center could cost your company significant dollars in the long-run.
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