Did you know that poorly formatted quotations and invoices can easily make a negative impression on your customers? You may be surprised to hear that it is just as easy to make a positive impression and create trust in your customers though well made invoices.
There are 3 important things to take note of when researching professional invoice creation. 1st is layout and design. Ask yourself, how do your quotes and invoices look? Not just to you, but put yourself in your customer’s shoes.
Next consider what fields are required to appear on the quotations and invoices you create. Your invoice must contain correct fields for it to be valid. Investigate which fields are required so your invoices are always legally correct.
You can then look at the spelling and grammar used in your invoices. Now that you have discovered what your invoices look like and what data they should contain, make sure that the data you put in them is accurate. Ask yourself what your clients will think of your business if you spell their company name incorrectly on an invoice.
Join me on a voyage of discovery as we take a deeper look at these ideas.
Layout & design
Having your invoices to look professionally formatted is all about doing research and getting the right help. Look around for online services or software that makes high quality quotes and invoices for you. If you are going the do-it-yourself way investigate correct invoice layout and ensure that the invoices you make are along the lines of these.
Required information
When making quotations and invoices required data needs to legally appear. This is especially true when you make tax invoices. Always do the research needed with respect to your local tax requirements to ensure all needed data appear on the invoices you issue.
Correct spelling
Don’t you dislike it when your business get an invoice where the issuer has spelt your business name or address incorrectly? Worse than that is if there are spelling mistakes in product or service descriptions that appear on the invoice. Incorrect spelling on invoices can go a long way to harm the face of your business. Many systems, applications, programs and software have a spell check feature – utilise it.
Follow the 3 simple hints above and your business will be well on the road to issuing better invoices!
Susan Bapsnill is a qualified business management consultant who recommends using a professional online invoicing system or subscription billing system to create professionally formatted invoices.