How Septic Companies Get Paid on the Day of Service

Finished Today, Paid Next Month

The pump-out took an hour. Getting paid for it takes a month: the ticket comes back to the office, someone types up the invoice, it goes in the mail, and the check arrives when the homeowner gets around to it. Some never do, and those turn into phone calls nobody enjoys making.

What Slow Payment Costs

• Cash flow. Payroll, fuel and disposal fees come out every week whether invoices are paid or not.
• Office time. Printing, mailing, posting checks and calling about late balances.
• Bad debt. The longer an invoice sits, the less likely it is to be paid in full.

If your company bills $40,000 a month and customers take 30 days to pay, you are carrying $40,000 of your own work as a loan to your customers at all times. Cut that to a few days and most of that money is back in your account.

Settle Payment at the Truck

1. Decide how the customer is paying before the truck leaves. Cash, check, card or bank transfer, recorded on the spot.
2. Send the invoice the moment the job is done. Not at the end of the week.
3. Put a pay button in it. A customer who can pay from their phone in a minute usually does.
4. Follow up from one list. Anything still unpaid shows up in one place, not in a pile of carbon copies.

How SepticCycle Gets You Paid

• Payment is part of finishing the job. When a tech completes a job, they choose how the customer paid: card, cash, check, bank transfer, another method your company accepts, or bill later.
• The invoice goes out right away. For card and bill-later jobs, the customer is emailed the invoice with a Pay Now link. When texting is turned on for your company, customers who have agreed to receive texts get one too.
• Pay online by card or bank transfer. Customers pay through Stripe, and the money goes straight to your business bank account. SepticCycle keeps nothing from processing.
• Cash and checks are recorded on site. Cash marks the invoice paid immediately and emails a receipt. A check is noted as collected, and the office marks it paid once it clears.
• Text the pay link from the office. From the invoice page, the office can text the pay link to a customer who has agreed to receive texts.
• Your books stay current. Once you connect QuickBooks Online, invoices and payments sync to it.

Faster payment and lower software costs go together. See the true cost of per-user pricing.