When To Outsource Billing
Many companies are most efficient when they focus on their “core” business and rely on outsource professionals to handle repetitive tasks. You should consider outsourcing if:
- Your mail processing equipment is slow and inefficient.
- Your office staff stops their regular duties to get the bills out.
- Your company is not efficient at performing this task.
- You rely on one person to process any critical step of your billing. If so, what happens to your mailing deadline when that person is sick or out of town?
- You are unable to image barcodes on envelopes that saves on postage.
- Your equipment is difficult to set-up and operate.
Though new technology is constantly striving to make our lives easier, keeping up with the latest processing equipment and software is both expensive and time consuming. The drain on office personnel, as well as the financial investment required to stay current, makes outsourcing of billing an attractive option for companies that prefer to stick to the business they know.
Outsourcing with CTP requires little investment on your part. There is the set-up cost for the initial programming of your application and the cost of printing new laser cut sheet bills (which are billed only as used). On our end, we take care of all postal/processing software and equipment required – now, and in the future – so you don’t have to buy it, lease it, maintain it, staff it, or dedicate office space for it.
Maximize Your Marketing and Up-Sell Your Customers
CTP can selectively insert marketing and product information into your outgoing bills, usually with no additional postage. Take advantage of this capability to promote your company by transforming your billing into the ultimate marketing tool!
Billing is a perfect vehicle to incorporate marketing and promotional information:
- Readership and responses are higher than unsolicited mail.
- Enhance your brand identity by inserting newsletters and press releases.
- Marketing communication will reach your customer every billing cycle.
- You can insert new product or service announcements in all your mailings inexpensively.
- You can promote or test new services and products to all customers, or a select list.
CTP Document Management
Documents and the information they contain are directly linked to the ultimate success of any business. However, the amount of time it takes to access that information can create a real bottleneck. With CTP’s outsourcing program, one of the services available to your company is the streamlining of your internal document management. We can organize the information your company needs and make it easy to access. This can be done in a simple, cost-effective manner, providing benefits to all departments including accounting, customer service and sales. Here are just two ideas:
1) CTP can print and pre-sort your billing file copies. When printing billing file copies for your office records, we can print in any sorted order you prefer, even different sorts for different departments, for example:
- sort by customer number for accounts receivable
- sort by alpha for your salespeople
- sort by numeric sequence for your back-up records file
Your file copies will arrive pre-cut and ready-to-file so your office personnel will save hours of time – no more bursting, decollating, sorting, or copying. Your filing will be done quicker and with higher accuracy.
2) You can digitally store and access your billing file copies using CD-ROM technology. CTP can provide you with a CD-ROM copy of all your billing activity (weekly or monthly) that will allow you high-speed access to your invoices in the same format your customer received them. Other benefits your company will receive by using CD-ROM:
- The need for hard copy filing is eliminated.
- Internal and off-site records warehousing costs are reduced by storing your data electronically.
- One CD-ROM on a PC-based network can be accessed by multiple customer service personnel without ever leaving their chairs.
- If a customer requires a duplicate hard copy, it’s as easy as pressing the printer, fax or e-mail buttons on the customer service personnel’s computer.
Notes:
- The electronic archive works on any Windows based system. The archive file will display the information on the screen in the exact same format as it was mailed, along with all graphics.
- If desired, archiving of mailed pieces is also offered via electronic down-load.
The Advantages and Flexibility of Using our High-Speed Laser Printer
Standard Capabilities:
- Speed: 135 pages per minute
- Both sides can be printed (Duplex) to save paper and postage.
- MICR toner capable for checks
We can print on a wide variety of paper stocks:
- Paper stock: from 20# bond up to 100# tag
- Sizes: 8 1/2 x 11, 8 1/2 x 14, and 11 x 17
- We can pre-perf stock to make return payment slips, subscription renewal forms, and discount coupons.
- We can also utilize up to four paper trays to mix different types or colors of paper stock during the run.
Transform Your Billing into a Profit Center
Did you know that you can sell advertising “space” in your billing envelopes to help offset your overhead? Now you can do what most oil companies and credit card companies have been doing for years – they charge other companies for the privilege to insert their advertising piece into the billing envelope.
What would some of your suppliers or vendors pay to have only their advertising piece sent directly to the home or businesses of your client base?
Benefits of Outsourcing Billing
Now you can outsource the processing of your invoices and statements to CTP Solutions. Eliminate your staffing and equipment headaches – let us print, fold, sort and mail your bills.
Save money and time by outsourcing your billing to CTP Solutions!
Save on postage
By having our laser printer apply a personalized barcode on each bill, you will receive first-class automated mail discount rates that average $60 per 1,000 pieces less than regular postage – a savings of 6¢ each. You will save even more, 7¢ – 8¢ each, if your mailings are regionally concentrated.
Increase cash flow
We’ll get your bills in the mail days faster, as we bypass regular sorting at the post office. Not only is your mail often delivered two to three days sooner, your remittance envelope is also bar coded so it comes back to you quicker.
Save time on remittance processing
We can add barcodes to your bills so you can automate your in-house remittance procedure, or we can add an OCR typeface to your bill so you can utilize a lockbox service through your bank (at local or multiple locations nationwide) for same day payment processing and deposit of checks.
Save on freight
If you are like most companies, your invoices, statements, and envelopes are printed and shipped to you, and then billed in full, plus the freight cost. With outsourcing, your forms and stock envelopes are manufactured at the same site as the mailing house so there is no freight. You will easily save hundreds of dollars per year. We bill for forms and envelopes only as they’re used, not in advance (making it easier on your cash flow).
Save on warehousing space
Most likely you’re ordering invoices and/or statements, plus #10 envelopes and #9 reply envelopes. These items must be stored and then transported to your processing area. With our service, all printed items will be stored off-site at our processing facility, freeing up your space and saving you time.
Save on capital expenses
There is no longer a need to purchase or lease special mail processing equipment or software. Now you can finally get away from those costly long-term equipment leases and service agreements.
Save time
During most company’s billing process, much of your employees’ time is spent printing, folding, inserting, sorting, handling, metering, and mailing your billing forms. Then, when that’s all done, they still have to sort and file away the extra copies for your records. With outsourcing, most of these duties are eliminated so your valuable personnel will be free to do more important, customer oriented duties.
Reduce Customer Errors, Late Payments, and Incoming Telephone Calls about Confusing Bills and Statements
Your mission is to find customers, satisfy these customers, and offer them additional services and products. But, it is equally important to retain these customers for your company.
Sometimes it’s the simple things that upset customers and cause them to become dissatisfied. One common complaint is about the confusing, hard-to-read bills and notices they receive. Frustration increases when a consumer has to call in with a simple question and is put on hold.
CTP Solutions can help improve your customer service by sending a bill to your customer that is more concise, clear, and user friendly.
On many billing documents, the use of highlight typefaces to call attention to a few key words can make a major difference in the timeliness of client response. By highlighting certain phrases, you can substantially reduce your incoming phone calls for repetitive billing questions, while eliminating customer errors and improving payment times; on average, bills are paid sooner. In addition, increased response to the initial billing resulted in a dramatic decrease in the number of past due reminders they had to mail out, saving additional postage expense.