Is A Statement Processing Service Right For Your Business?

Many small business owners haven’t given much thought to the idea of outsourcing their printing and mailing services. As your business grows, you just become accustomed to doing most things yourself – including your printing and mailing. This way of thinking can be detrimental to the growth, expansion, and profitability of a business of any size because outsourcing this process offers business owners an incredible opportunity for improvement.

If your business consists of printing, processing, and mailing out monthly statements, you could be saving time and money by simply outsourcing these tasks. You could be putting your employees to much better use, instead of having them handle these tasks for you. This is how you can reduce costs and improve the overall efficiency of your business.

Change for the Better

Building a lucrative small business requires professionalism, perception, and smart thinking. Most business owners understand that every day your image is at risk and that your competition is looking for the opportunity to absorb your clients. You have developed as a business owner simply because you understand how important a professional image is; from the sign on your front door to the invoice a client receives. You recognize that the quality, personalization, and professionalism of your company’s invoice printing and mailing services goes a very long way in maintaining a good image.

Unfortunately, what many business owners don’t realize is outsourcing your printing and mailing services to a reputable vendor offers you the opportunity to streamline your processes, communicate better with existing clients, and reach more prospective customers all while saving your time and money, resulting in higher profitability.

Here are the top reasons we believe that outsourcing your printing and mailing can benefit you and your business:

1) Commercial Equipment is Expensive to Purchase and Maintain

Most print and mail services rely on commercial equipment such as folding machines, high-speed inserters and high-dollar printers to ensure that the printing and mail process is as effective and efficient as possible. When you have your own commercial equipment, you are making an investment, which means that getting a return on your investment is very important. Sadly, this is not always the case. This is primarily because the maintenance and supplies on these machines can be expensive, causing you to get a poor return on your investment. This is something that business owners should take into consideration. When you outsource your printing and mailing services, you won’t have to worry about maintaining and covering the supplies that come with the necessary equipment.

2) Better Invoices and Statements

When outsourcing your invoices and statements, you have them generated at a much higher quality. The right printing and mailing service that you choose to partner with will be experts in the printing and mailing industry. This means that they’ll know just how to generate invoices and statements that will get the attention of your clients. After all, the goal is to get them to open the letter and respond to it – be it an invoice, statement, or part of a direct mail campaign. If not, this is just a waste of time and money on your end.

3) Faster and More Efficient Mailings

Basic math tells us that the faster your invoices and statements reach the mailbox of your clients, the faster you’ll get paid. Yes, it’s really that simple. Outsourcing this service to a reputable company will help you get paid much faster, instead of doing it yourself. Ultimately, this will lead to improved cash flow for your company. Good cash flow is needed for companies to thrive, pay their bills, and pay their employees.

4) Get Paid Faster

We mentioned this above, but it bears repeating – faster and more efficient mailings mean you get paid faster! Quite often the hardest aspect of your job isn’t the work itself, it is getting your client or customer to pay for what they have purchased – especially for those that run tight margins. The elusive “net 30” is the ultimate goal. If you don’t have an outstanding invoicing system in place, or if perhaps you are making a general invoicing mistake, you could be wasting considerable time and effort trying to collect money — and your company could start to suffer from cash flow problems. By outsourcing these tasks to a pro, you can rest easier knowing that their attention will be on getting you paid, while your attention can be on other things.

5) Faster Invoicing

Oftentimes, it seems as if companies feel guilty about asking for payment. If not that, it seems as if owners do no begin to ask until they NEED the money – resulting in shoddy processes and procedures. In order to get paid faster (see the above two points), you need to invoice faster! Your clientele and customers simply can’t pay an invoice which they haven’t received. Outsourcing this to a professional printing and mailing service solves this issue without extra effort on your part.

6) Invoice on a frequent and Consisten Basis

You will find three major reasons to invoice with some regularity. First of all, it will help you keep track of who was invoiced for what. Secondly, it will help you avoid sending large invoices to clients who could have issues with huge bills. Last but not least, it prevents you from putting invoicing off until a future date. It is just good business to take advantage of this process and the communication benefits it offers.

7) Reduced Costs

By now, it should be evident that performing your printing and mailing services in-house will only lead to more costs and a decrease in efficiency. Outsourcing, on the other hand, will do the complete opposite. You’ll see an increase in efficiency and a reduction in typical costs associated with invoice printing and mailing services. Like we’ve noted before, time, labor, supplies, depreciation, and maintenance are expensive aspects of doing this yourself. And an added bonus is that, not only is outsourcing cheaper and more efficient, the product generating is of far better quality.

8) Improved Invoices and Statements

Speaking of far better quality, very few business owners put thought into their invoices and statements. However, some constructive thought is what is necessary to make your invoices and statements as effective as possible. This is the key to grabbing the attention of your clients. This will compel and encourage them to respond to your communication much faster. There are many factors that play a role in the effectiveness of your letters.  Things like the font you use, the type size, the layout, and more are important because certain fonts and sizes can make your statements standout out and look more professional. This is just a portion of the insight a professional printing and mailing service can bring to your improved invoices and statements.

Many times in business, less is more. You must get your point across in a clear and concise manner. This will greatly improve the effectiveness of your invoices and statements.

9) Taking Tasks Off Your Employee’s Plates

A necessary evil for companies that do their own printing means that their employees take care of the printing and mailing related tasks. Obviously, this is not the best way to go about your business because you could have your employees spend their time on other areas of the business that better suit their skills. Outsourcing these tasks will help you improve the productivity of your employees and free up valuable money in payroll costs. Here is a basic idea of some of the tasks you could take of the plate of your team members:

• Printing invoices and statements.
• Purchasing supplies including paper, ink, and envelopes.
• Preparing letters or running machines that prepare letters.
• Presorting and delivering mail to the post office.
• Corresponding and communicating with the post office.
• Keeping up-to-date on issues involving mail security.
• Staying up-to-date on new mail processing technology.
• Keeping up-to-date on mailing guidelines and regulations.
• Much, Much More!

Outsourcing your print and mail jobs will ensure that all of these tasks are handled by a professional that has the knowledge and experience in the field. Your employees will then be able to focus on other tasks that are better suited for their skills – like customer service and driving revenue.

Additional Advantages of Presorted Mail

• No start-up costs
• Postage Savings
• Mileage Savings
• Improved mail service
• Decreased processing time
• Less damaged pieces
• And more…

What Can You Send?

• Invoices
• Bills
• Statements
• Letters
• Contracts
• Cards
• Postcards
• Custom Designs

Custom Statements and Invoices

Producing custom invoices and statement improves communication with your clients and offers a touch of class and professionalism to the reader. Creating custom messages to your clients makes it possible for you as a small business owner to send a message of reliability and assurance.

You also have the capability to express a personal message, discount their existing services, or advise them on a new offering. Traditional and generic forms cause you to run the risk of losing out on significant opportunities to correspond with your clients or customers.

Towne Mailer

For nearly twenty years, the team at Towne Mailer has been dedicated to offering the best professional printing and mailing services to clients across the country and beyond.

We understand the success of your business means we are successful as well. As small business owners ourselves, we understand customer service and client retention.

We welcome the opportunity to tell you how we can improve your bottom line and then show you!

Reach out today!