How I saved a client a day a month
I want to talk you through how I managed to save a client a day a month by just doing ….their invoicing for them.
My client used to do their invoicing monthly on the first of the month. Whatever day that was they would not work with clients and would complete this task. Did they enjoy this task? NO! Did they prefer to do this task than see their clients? NO! Was it a repetitive task that could be trained? YES!
How did I save time?
You may think outsourcing will create you more stress. You’re going to have to train someone. Well, this client took 90 minutes out of their day to train me. That’s all it took to offload this repetitive, time-consuming task for the next two years and beyond.
From that day forward the client could do what they wanted with their day. Spend the time more effectively elsewhere in their business doing tasks that only they can do.
Then and Now
When I first took over this task it took me around 5 hours to complete. This meant my client had gone from spending a whole day doing a task they didn’t really enjoy to being able to work with clients and actually earn money. Yes they had to pay me, but they only have to see two clients of their own on their old admin day and cover my costs.
I have now been working for this client for around 2 years and the invoicing now takes me around 2 ½ hours. Nothing has changed for my client but I got naturally quicker at creating the invoices over time. In addition, I also found a quicker way to run the initial report which saved around an hour.
Process Improvements
On top of generating the monthly invoices I gave the invoice template an overhaul. I standardised every aspect so each one was exactly the same which saved time when creating a lot of invoices in one go.
In addition to the invoicing itself I also created an invoice log to keep track of the amount invoiced each month. My client now knew exactly what was being invoiced each month and had a document to update when payments were made. We could also easily see what payments were outstanding.
Additional Savings
There would also be an additional task of reading the cancellation emails and checking whether they were cancelled within the cancellation period or not which would result in a charge. When I started this I would get around 1000 emails a month. The system wouldn’t allow me to only receive cancellations, so I received booking notices and rescheduled bookings as well which I didn’t need. I created a filter within Gmail, so now I never have to see the emails I don’t need . A simple 5-minute filter creation saved my client at least 2 hours a month.
Look out on Monday’s in November 2020 on the Facebook page for some quick google workspace tip videos!
Process Improvements
On top of generating the monthly invoices I gave the invoice template an overhaul. I standardised every aspect so each one was exactly the same which saved time when creating a lot of invoices in one go.
In addition to the invoicing itself I also created an invoice log to keep track of the amount invoiced each month. My client now knew exactly what was being invoiced each month and had a document to update when payments were made. We could also easily see what payments were outstanding.
Additional Savings
There would also be an additional task of reading the cancellation emails and checking whether they were cancelled within the cancellation period or not which would result in a charge. When I started this I would get around 1000 emails a month. The system wouldn’t allow me to only receive cancellations, so I received booking notices and rescheduled bookings as well which I didn’t need. I created a filter within Gmail, so now I never have to see the emails I don’t need . A simple 5-minute filter creation saved my client at least 2 hours a month.
Look out on Monday’s in November 2020 on the Facebook page for some quick google workspace tip videos!
Next Steps
What tasks do you have within your practice that you don’t enjoy? What tasks repeat each week or month that you can automate or easily train someone in? What tasks take you away from your clients? I bet if you sat down and wrote out a list of all the administration tasks within your practice there would be loads that fit this criteria. Take a look at my blog on How Can I Improve My Time Management? Which may give you some ideas of how you can make improvements within your own practice.
You may think that just outsourcing one thing isn’t worth it but the great thing about delegating to a virtual assistant is that you can pay for the hours they work. There is usually no minimum spend and as they get more efficient that spend rate will reduce.
I have also created a free download called What is the best way to invoice?. This will give you a great overview of the ways you can invoice in private practice. Whether you are just setting up or whether you have been in business a long time. I go through the pros and cons of each ways you can invoice and also give you an understanding of ways you can accept payments as well.
For lots more practice admin information visit www.virtuallyirreplaceable.co.uk. Alternatively, contact me via email at kim@virtuallyirreplaceable.co.uk and we can discuss your requirements on a free discovery call.
