Quotes can be for a specific customer or initially for a “dummy” customer to cover the telephone enquiry for a price. For the telephone enquiry, only the Post Code and work involved (selected from menus of standard jobs) needs to be identified to produce a price. The Post Code enables the price to be automatically adjusted for the difficulty of working in the particular area. If necessary, the standard price can be modified to reflect the difficulty of the job or as a discount to a regular customer.
If acceptable to a customer, then further details are then added including the specific customer details (or Customer ID for previous clients). Quotes created are stored on the system so that they can be converted to firm Quotes (with job scheduled dates) or Invoices. The details of any Quote produced on a Mobile machine are passed back to the Office machine as part of the end of day processing.
The Quote facilities offer:-
■ Enquiry Quotes produced in seconds.
■ Conversion of an enquiry to a firm quote.
■ Firm Quotes linked to a specific customer / address.
■ Consistent pricing for an area / type of job.
■ Entered Quote provides majority of Invoice data.
■ History of Quotes.
Contract Quotes can be created in various formats to match respective commercial or private sites. The actual text employed can be defined / modified via the Office machine for use in all subsequent quotes. On site, the operator enters key data such as the number of treatments a year, minimum contract length, repeating cost, initial setup cost and customer details. This enables a contract form to be printed on site ready for a customer signature.
Subsequently, the completed form is used to set up a Contract Invoice record on the Office machine which sets up parameters for the initial Invoice. By including details of the interval between payments, the system will automatically advance all dates included in the Invoice Header and within the descriptive text within the body of the Invoice without the need for further user input.
Invoices can be created from Quote data or from a list of repeating Contracts.
An Invoice can be created from a Quote at the touch of a button with all the key information already entered. If required, delivery costs and any deposit paid can be added to give a final cost. If payment is made at the time the Invoice is raised, the Date Payment Received can be entered to stop subsequent Statements being raised for an outstanding payment.
When Invoices are created on a Mobile machine, the details are passed to the Office machine as part of the end of day processing. This provides traceability of all payments received.
The Contract Invoices features only operate from the Office machine. They allow details of a contract to be entered once then have subsequent Invoices produced automatically on the due month showing the correct period covered. A review facility allows a check to be made on the Invoices automatically selected for the month. This feature can create all the Invoices for a month within the time required to enter the month and year to be processed - the longest job is waiting for a 100 plus Invoices to print off!
To cover periods when Site Visits are not required (for instance during building works) the Contract Invoice feature has a suspend indicator.
Once created, all invoices include facilities to mark them with a payment date or reconciled with bank statements. Any Invoice not marked as paid will appear on a Statement which can cover all sites for a company.
★ Consistent pricing for the same work in the same area.
★ History of price charged on previous visits.
★ Pricing which takes account of local conditions - nothing overlooked.
★ Job Work Invoices produced on site - improves cash flow.
★ Ability to monitor Invoice payments made during a site visit.
★ All Contract Invoices for a month created in seconds.
★ Minimises the opportunity of missing a Contract Invoice.
★ Invoices can be produced by site or directed to a Head Office.
★ Statements of outstanding Invoices to help chase overdue payment
