You're quoting another lawn while June invoices are still open. More stops feel like growth, but unpaid work does not pay for fuel. How do you clear the oldest balances first, before you say yes to the next stop?
Watch out for two bad habits:
- Chasing invoices with no plan of attack
- Collecting and depositing money without connecting it to an invoice
Keep one list of who owes you, sorted oldest first. Start at the top. A customer three cycles behind is a bigger risk than someone with a larger invoice who simply forgot last week's invoice.
Build time into your schedule to work that list, purposefully. That can be from your truck or at the office, but make sure its dedicated time. Don't just try to squeeze follow-ups in while you or your helper are unloading or loading the truck. Ad hoc follow ups run the risk of not actually get done.
Mowing a lawn only makes you money if you collect it. If you've got a significant portion of your book that is behind, the time set aside for collection will be worth way more than spending that time on another mow job.
You're busy enough to quote the next stop, but half the book still hasn't paid for last month. You need a strategy!
Finish the job, send an invoice, then mark payments in your system as soon as you get them. There's nothing more embarassing than sending a payment collection note just to get "I already paid you yesterday".
Make sure to keep track of payments separately from your bank account logs. Those will be incomplete as soon as someone hands you cash. Always confirm that a payment has arrived before marking as paid, but don't make yourself have to go back and check all incoming accounts every time there's a question.
If you allow customers to pre-pay, you're now keeping a balance sheet and run a real risk of over or under invoicing, especially if that balance sheet lives in your head.
Create a system for credit or debiting from balances that isn't just your memory. Pen and paper, spreadsheets, or business management apps all help solve this challenge.
Run My Lawn Biz records payments against the customer, keeps a list of unpaid invoices, and provides a way to track payments from the moment your crew collects on site. We also keep track of prepaid credit and allow you full flexibility on how payments work for those customers.
New lawns feel like growth. Cash from paid invoices is what pays the bills.
