Subcription Plans/Services

[Silverhorse84]

Hi All,

I am writing my business plan for a mobile car wash & detail that I am looking to start next year and was just wondering how any of the established detail businesses handle the billing for their monthly maintenance plans? Keeping everything organized and ensuring that everything runs smoothly and everyone pays on time seems like a tedious process to keep track of manually. Are there any companies out there the anyone is using to take care of the monthly billing automatically where the customer is billed automatically each month from a credit or debit/checking account? I know that there are companies out there that can do this, but I also know that there are a lot of scammers out there that pose as legit companies, too.

I am looking to avoid the hassles that can come with invoicing customers and trusting that they will pay for their services on-time and as agreed.

Also, does anyone have any strategies on customer management systems to keep track of customer information such as the last service ordered or the customer preferences?

Any help or insight is always greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

-Silverhorse84

 

[The Heater]

Any third party service increases your overhead. Is that what you want? Or is this something you are exploring because you don't feel competent to do it yourself?

I would be careful about "billing automatically". If your billing is not a direct consequence of services being rendered, you may find yourself on the wrong end of a suit by the Attorney General of your state, or an investigation by the Consumer Trade Commission. If you simply were choosing inaccurate terms in your question, then ignore this warning.

I would want to know what is in your written agreement with your customers. Does it contain the length of time you are providing the services and the rate at which you charge, or the flat fee and a description of services for the fee? Does it clearly set forth a mechanism for termination of the agreement and the services? If you have a separate agreement from the customer that authorizes electronic transfer of funds on or around a certain date each month, in a form acceptable to your merchant account provider, you could do your "automatic" billing yourself with Outlook and Excel.

You probably need to look into your state's laws on repetitive contracts that automatically take funds from the customer. In many states, these are highly regulated or illegal without specific language set forth in a statute.

 

[Silverhorse84]

Any third party service increases your overhead. Is that what you want? Or is this something you are exploring because you don't feel competent to do it yourself?

I would be careful about "billing automatically". If your billing is not a direct consequence of services being rendered, you may find yourself on the wrong end of a suit by the Attorney General of your state, or an investigation by the Consumer Trade Commission. If you simply were choosing inaccurate terms in your question, then ignore this warning.

I would want to know what is in your written agreement with your customers. Does it contain the length of time you are providing the services and the rate at which you charge, or the flat fee and a description of services for the fee? Does it clearly set forth a mechanism for termination of the agreement and the services? If you have a separate agreement from the customer that authorizes electronic transfer of funds on or around a certain date each month, in a form acceptable to your merchant account provider, you could do your "automatic" billing yourself with Outlook and Excel.

You probably need to look into your state's laws on repetitive contracts that automatically take funds from the customer. In many states, these are highly regulated or illegal without specific language set forth in a statute.

Wow! That was really good feedback and well-received. The last thing that I want as a small business is to be on the receiving end of a lawsuit. I'll keep your advice in mind.

What I was thinking that I would offer a weekly wash for a set fee each month, spell out what is included with each service, and offer a discounted rate since the customer is buying a month of car washes in advance and bill them on a month-to-month basis and give the customer the right to cancel at any time as part of the terms & conditions of the service. I've seen some of the brick and mortar car washes do this as a service for their customers, but they offer unlimited washes as part of the service for a small price such as $16.99 to $19.99 per month for their most basic wash package. Of course that rate would be too cheap for me considering the level of service and convenience that I am providing for my customers. So I would probably need to charge at least 3-4 times that for a mobile business consider fuel costs and other variable expenses as part of my revenue management strategy.

Bottom line: I am starting out as a sole proprietor and would like to focus more on the customer service aspect of the business so that I can build a good reputation. Automating some of the processes involved with business side of running a mobile wash & detail service would certainly allow me to do that.

Awesome feedback. Thanks again.

-Silverhorse84

 

[The Heater]

Have you considered asking for a set fee that purchases, in advance, a certain number of services in the future? I would allow you to collect funds immediately, and allow the customer to then be responsible for scheduling the services. It might work as an alternative to trying to chase down monthly billing for at least some of your customers, and you can discount it enough from the "per visit" charge to make it worth their while to pay up front.

 

[Niblick]

all mine pay on the day. theres no reason to start running lines of credit and then have the hassle of chasing them up. cash, cheque or card, i really don't mind, but i always take the money before i leave the premises

 

[Silverhorse84]

Have you considered asking for a set fee that purchases, in advance, a certain number of services in the future? I would allow you to collect funds immediately, and allow the customer to then be responsible for scheduling the services. It might work as an alternative to trying to chase down monthly billing for at least some of your customers, and you can discount it enough from the "per visit" charge to make it worth their while to pay up front.

That's actually what I was thinking about. I read about this particular technique on a couple of detailing sites and seems to be the way to go as a method to help build cash reserves.

 

[Pureshine]

I always get paid when they pick up car and would never bill them later.With that said it comes down to what kind of work your doing and if your doing fleet work net 30 would work. If your doing one car a day like me there is no way I would bill people and wait for the money. I use CJournal app to keep keep tract of customers name,email,phone# price and what I did.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/contacts-journal-crm-professional/id327685977?mt=8