SolarQuotes

SolarQuotes’ fast growth meant invoices got neglected. And before long, cash got tight. CreditorWatch Collect helped the SolarQuotes team get on top of the situation. Now there’s an extra $118,000 in the bank, and happy prompt paying customers.

Chantel, co-owner at SolarQuotes

Chantel and the team at SolarQuotes have been sourcing qualified sales leads for the solar industry in Australia for the past ten years. Hundreds of solar installation businesses across Australia rely on them to keep their sales pipeline full while they’re off quoting and installing.

SolarQuotes have finely tuned their invoicing and payment processes to ensure their invoices get to the top of the pile when it comes to getting paid. CreditorWatch Collect has been key to their success.

Customers were paying slowly

“Without consistent follow up, customers typically become slower payers over time. We were looking for ways to automate our receivables management whilst maintaining a personal service”, says Chantel, co-owner at SolarQuotes.

As SolarQuotes grew it became harder to maintain a consistent collections process. Customers were paying slower and an increasing amount of cash was being tied up in debtors.

On any given month it wasn’t uncommon to have a third of all invoices falling overdue.

The easiest way to make cash flow

Things had to change, so Chantel and the SolarQuotes team reached out to CreditorWatch Collect. They found it was surprisingly easy: “From getting set up to ongoing support, the team at CreditorWatch Collect are brilliant. The communication is great and I’m never left wondering about the status of our receivables”.

Then CreditorWatch Collect set to work with carefully-crafted automated emails and follow up phone calls that respected clients and took the load off Chantel and the team. “CreditorWatch Collect reminds and calls customers that I don’t have time to call. The result is that they pay faster”, says Chantel.

“Just like one of our team”

However, the decision to get CreditorWatch Collect on board wasn’t an easy one. “I wasn’t sure CreditorWatch Collect would understand our business or treat our customers with the care they deserve. I was worried they’d be calling from an offshore call centre. Thankfully Megan took the time to learn about our business and our products. And after listening to her calls I now have no reservations about her contacting my customers at any time. CreditorWatch Collect is just like one of our team”, says Chantel.

Happier customers

“Reminder calls and emails happen automatically every month like clockwork. We get paid faster, our customers are happy, and I can spend my time on other things. One benefit we hadn’t anticipated is – thanks to Megan – calls can happen much earlier – at just 8 days overdue. This has been key, training our customers to pay on average ten days faster and increasing our cash in the bank by $118k”, says Chantel.

SolarQuotes’ success with CreditorWatch Collect has not only trained their customers to pay invoices faster, it’s also reduced their risk. Invoices more than 60 days overdue have been dramatically reduced by 75 percent in just 60 days.

“If you’re not using CreditorWatch Collect to manage your receivables, I highly recommend you do. In just 60 days our investment of $345 resulted in an extra $118,000 in the bank, better service and happier customers”.