FloristWare Features: Accounts Receivable

At the end of each sale FloristWare gives you the option of not only printing the invoice or receipt (pre-formatted to go into a standard window envelope) but of faxing or e-mailing it to the customer in pdf format with just a few mouse clicks.

This is a very powerful feature, especially for shops that have a lot of house accounts. Typically these shops take an order and then have to enter it into their accounting package (such as Quickbooks) and generate the invoice at a later time. This means duplicated (wasted) effort.

Generating and printing and/or e-mailing and/or faxing the invoice/receipt at the time of sale has a lot of advantages. First, it allows the customer to review all of the order details - giving them a chance to spot any mistakes. You'd be surprised how often our users have had a customer notice a potentially embarrassing error - the wrong name in a card message, bad delivery date, etc.

It also saves you time and money - if you are used to generating an invoice by hand, (or taking a receipt from your cash register) and stuffing it into an envelope, writing the address, etc., you'll love the fact that FloristWare prints receipts and invoices already formatted to go straight into a window envelope. However - it's even faster and easier to e-mail or fax the invoice by just clicking a few buttons! It's also cheaper - you save the cost of the envelope and the stamp.

And - when it comes to Accounts Receivable - there is still one more advantage. The faster you bill, the faster you get paid.

Too many florists regard invoicing as a chore. They put it off as long as they can and, when they finally get around to it, weeks have often passed. And, since old invoices are more likely to be put to the side, these shops are almost always waiting a month or more for payment.

E-mailing or faxing the invoice at the time of sale dramatically reduces the amount of time it takes you to collect your receivables.

Have you ever had an Accounts Payable contact call and ask you for a duplicate invoice?

For too many florists this means a lot of work - often involving digging around in dusty old records boxes. It takes too long, your inclined to put it off and you're not any closer to getting paid until you actually find the invoice.

FloristWare makes this task easier than ever before. You can find the invoice and print a copy (formatted to go into a window envelope) or e-mail or fax it directly to the customer in a matter of seconds - usually while you are still on the phone with them!

This makes your life easier and helps you get paid faster.

Most POS systems treat customers and charge accounts as the same thing - the customer is effectively the account and the account is the customer.

FloristWare is much more sophisticated. Customers are customers - people who buy from you, people who have their own unique spending patterns, habits, preferences, recipients, etc. To serve them best we want to keep track of each one separately.

Accounts are different - accounts are just a method of payment and we treat them as such.

This means that FloristWare allows multiple customers (each with their own unique customer record) to charge to the same account. It also means that each customer can charge sales to multiple accounts.

It seems simple but most systems can't do it. You'll quickly see that it is a very powerful feature that gives you, your customers and your accounts a lot of options.

The Payment Chaser is a powerful tool that makes it easier than ever to chase down payment from delinquent accounts.

If you have a few minutes you can just sit down and the Payment Chaser will show you a list of accounts that really need a call along with the contact name and phone number. This makes it easy to stay on top of your accounts - the best way to assure that you get paid and in a timely fashion.

FloristWare allows you to print statements quickly and easily. With just a few clicks you can prints statements for a single account, all accounts with balances or all accounts.

You can also choose between two different formats. Both are very detailed and include things like order date, delivery date, purchaser name, etc., but one in particular gives the account holder an incredible amount of detail on the account activity. It even includes the card message and detailed product description.

Our users have found that these detailed invoices help reduce the number of questions from A/P departments and ensure faster payment.

FloristWare includes several reports related to Accounts Receivable. You can quickly and easily view a summary or detailed report for any individual account or your A/R as a whole. These reports help you keep your finger on your receivables and ensure that you get paid in a timely fashion.

When your account holders send you payment for their purchases FloristWare makes it very easy to record and account for them - whether the payment be by check, credit card, cash, etc. The payments are included in your overall payment reconciliation figures to make cashing out easier than ever before.

FloristWare allows you to assign a credit limit to each account and checks this limit each time the customer attempts to charge a sale. You can always override the limit, but FloristWare will warn you first. This is done for your protection - so that an employee does not accidentally allow an account to charge more than you are comfortable with.

You can also flag accounts. If for example you have been waiting for payment from a particular account and are starting to get nervous you can flag them. The next time they try and charge to that account a special message will pop up, alerting your employees to the fact that you really need to speak to the account holder first.

Too many stores are too generous with credit. They'll set up an account for almost anyone without first collecting enough information. This can make it difficult to collect.

FloristWare helps by allowing you to print a standardized account application form with just a couple of clicks. Just having a process in place assures that you collect some of the most vital information on new accounts. You'll be glad you have it when it comes time to collect.

FloristWare encourages you to keep a credit card on file for each of your account and encrypts the number for safekeeping. This gives you an additional chance to pursue payment while keeping the sensitive credit card information safe.

FloristWare allows you to keep track of two different sales taxes. It can also remember whether certain accounts are exempt from one or both of these taxes. You can always override these settings, but it will start you off on the right foot and warn you if you accidentally make any changes.