A little background about me... I'm a small business owner in Youngstown, Ohio. Steel Valley Computers is a B2B Managed IT Services company, and a popular one to say the least. Business has increased 380% over the past year, and we've launched a few new offerings late last year which are starting to take off.
Now, any other business owner would be jumping for joy, but my feet have yet to leave the ground. Our overpriced PSA system was unable to scale as we had thought it would. Our unique product offerings and customer billing needs were impossible to manage in Quickbooks, and our customer information system (CRM system) was a joke.
Freshbooks is a web based invoicing/time tracking system with a minimalist look and feel. Don't let that word fool you, Freshbooks is perhaps the most powerful invoicing system available. Listed below are only some of the features Freshbooks has to offer:
1. Effortless invoice creation. Freshbooks clean UI makes data entry painless.
2. Send invoices through email or snail mail. Freshbooks allows you to send snail mail invoices by purchasing stamps. Stamps cost around $1.50 each, but that price depends on how many stamps you purchase. Also, the customer receives your invoice in a professional looking package with a return envelop included.
3. Recurring invoices. This feature sold us on day one. We were now able to add all our monthly contracts, services, and various other contracts into an automated billing system. This freed up hours of work for me, and it meant we got paid faster as items were sent out on time.
4. A portal your customers can visit when needed to check their account status. This was a feature I didn't give much thought to, but shortly after our switch, our customers began complementing our new system. They loved having the ability of checking their payment history.
5. Automated payment notifications. This was another little feature I enabled during our testing and kept on. Whenever I receive a payment from a customer an email alert is sent to them notifying them their payment was processed. A nice little touch.
6. Timers - While most of our customers pay monthly fees for service, we still have clients who pay by the hour. This is handy as Freshbooks manages the rates for labor and bills accordingly. This combined with reason 7 makes a great feature.
7. A native iPhone application. Need to bill on the go? Working by the hour? Freshbooks' iPhone app has you covered. Fire up the included timers and let Freshbooks do the work for you. You can even email invoices directly from your iPhone.
I've only touched on a few items. FreshBooks feature list includes the ability to monitor employee's and contractor's work while keeping an eye on budgets. Visit FreshBooks.com to start your free trial!
Now, any other business owner would be jumping for joy, but my feet have yet to leave the ground. Our overpriced PSA system was unable to scale as we had thought it would. Our unique product offerings and customer billing needs were impossible to manage in Quickbooks, and our customer information system (CRM system) was a joke.
Freshbooks is a web based invoicing/time tracking system with a minimalist look and feel. Don't let that word fool you, Freshbooks is perhaps the most powerful invoicing system available. Listed below are only some of the features Freshbooks has to offer:
1. Effortless invoice creation. Freshbooks clean UI makes data entry painless.
2. Send invoices through email or snail mail. Freshbooks allows you to send snail mail invoices by purchasing stamps. Stamps cost around $1.50 each, but that price depends on how many stamps you purchase. Also, the customer receives your invoice in a professional looking package with a return envelop included.
3. Recurring invoices. This feature sold us on day one. We were now able to add all our monthly contracts, services, and various other contracts into an automated billing system. This freed up hours of work for me, and it meant we got paid faster as items were sent out on time.
4. A portal your customers can visit when needed to check their account status. This was a feature I didn't give much thought to, but shortly after our switch, our customers began complementing our new system. They loved having the ability of checking their payment history.
5. Automated payment notifications. This was another little feature I enabled during our testing and kept on. Whenever I receive a payment from a customer an email alert is sent to them notifying them their payment was processed. A nice little touch.
6. Timers - While most of our customers pay monthly fees for service, we still have clients who pay by the hour. This is handy as Freshbooks manages the rates for labor and bills accordingly. This combined with reason 7 makes a great feature.
7. A native iPhone application. Need to bill on the go? Working by the hour? Freshbooks' iPhone app has you covered. Fire up the included timers and let Freshbooks do the work for you. You can even email invoices directly from your iPhone.
8. Reports..reports...reports! Freshbooks includes plenty of 1-click reports giving you a clear view of just how well your company is doing.
I've only touched on a few items. FreshBooks feature list includes the ability to monitor employee's and contractor's work while keeping an eye on budgets. Visit FreshBooks.com to start your free trial!
