Invoice is the best payment method in B2B commerce, but even today the invoicing processes are too stiff and difficult. By automating processes, companies could increase their sales and competitiveness as well as put their products and services available onto the market more widely than before.
One of the biggest challenges of invoicing is the slow process of creating new invoicing contracts. I have encountered, for instance, situations where an employee working in a different city outside their permanent workplace gets turned away from a brick and mortar store and the maintenance car is left unfilled only because “there is no existing invoicing agreement and the financial department doesn’t have time to handle the account application”. Also, at the checkout of an online store, you may realise that the store only accepts “traditional” payment methods, and the customer has to log in each time separately.
Manual processes and bad payment solutions create obstacles for the customer to make purchases and, furthermore, burden both the customer’s and selling company’s operations. Card payment is one option, but nowadays we also have a wide range of different mobile payment options. Why is an invoice still the best payment method in the B2B world?
An arduous purchase process directs the customer to the competitor
One reason is that in a B2B store the buyer has the responsibility to keep accounting records, and only invoices as a payment method can transfer all the data (tax rates, accounting information, etc.) all the way from the seller to the buyer’s background systems. Therefore, it would be wise for merchants to provide invoicing as one of the payment options for companies of all sizes.
However, the process for creating an account for a new account customer is often much too laborious. An account application, checks related to it, the opening of the account and delivering all necessary data together with username and password combinations to the customer may take days or even weeks, depending on the information and financial management information systems of the company. The process costs time and money, and meanwhile many occasional or even regular customers may already have turned to a competitor.
If buyers need to create separate username and password combinations for a so-called closed online store and contact different parties in order to get payment rights, sales will be lost. Equally, merchants could cover their display windows with a tarp and place an arrow to direct customers to the direction of their competitor.
Automated corporate invoice makes operations more efficient, saves money and increases sales
Customers long for efficiency and smoothness for their purchase experience also in B2B business. Therefore, companies must respond to these wishes.
When paying with an invoice is transformed into an easy, automated payment method, the selling company can sell its services and products using more competitive prices and to a wider audience than before. Therefore, automated corporate invoice makes operations more efficient, saves money and increases sales.
And the saved time can be used for other productive work, such as search engine optimisation and marketing, utilising social media, content production or other activities creating genuine customer value.
Janne Tiainen
Solteq
Solteq collaborates with B2B payment solution provider Enterpay in connecting corporate invoicing services to a modern B2B online store in order to make smooth purchase experiences a reality. The integrated service fully automates the whole invoicing process from making a credit decision to the merchant getting paid. Customers get the corporate invoice they want, and merchants can focus on selling. More information here.
Contact us, and we’ll tell you more how your company can accelerate B2B sales, improve digital customer engagements and reduce manual work.
www.solteq.com