Put your business name on your member’s credit card statement
As a biller, you want your name to appear on your customer’s credit card statement. You would think it is a relatively simple request. Not only does it look more professional for your business, but it avoids a lot of unnecessary confusion for your member. Unfortunately, many direct debit providers are unable to provide this feature to their client.
At PaymentHub, we can put your name on your customer’s Visa and Mastercard statement. It is as simple as signing up to a PaymentHub account. Call us today to find out more.
PaymentHub releases Electronic Invoicing
Since we started PeopleHub back in 2005, literally 1000s of businesses have used our system to manage their billing. As well as the usual features like sending payment reminders and SMS notifications, many of our customers have requested an invoicing function to link to their recurring payments.
After 6 months of development, we are proud to announce our integrated direct debit and invoicing function is now live. You can:
- Link a payment plan and invoice,
- Nominate the timing you want the invoice to be sent (either prior to the payment on the payment date), and
- Nominate multiple line items on the invoice.
Based on our user feedback we are continuing to refine the invoicing system, but if you would like a sneak peak, please contact us to arrange a demo.
Is direct debit a dirty word?
Visit any whirlpool forum and you will find 100′s of complaints regarding direct debit. Given this, I’ll pose a question, is direct debit really that bad? Or is it the use of these facilities by the merchant that is at fault? Is it a case of bill payers just not meeting their obligations?
Firstly, we should point out that direct debit is a growing billing method throughout Australia. APCA’s historical figures indicate a 10% year on year growth in transaction volumes for the past decade. So why are businesses continuing to look to direct debit as a favoured billing channel? The answer is it’s cost. Direct debit is an inexpensive and, in most cases, automated billing solution. It is also a secure and proven billing channel used across multiple industries.
As well as these advantages, direct debit also provides an end point in the billing cycle. Many billers issue an invoice and see a payment due date come and go without receiving payment. This generally requires them to follow-up by issuing a payment reminder or a collection order to recover their fees.
With direct debit, a payment date comes and results in one of two events, the funds are paid
PaymentHub Direct Debit Case Study – Security and Monitoring Services
PaymentHub has recently partnered with several security and monitoring companies to help them manage their cash flow. The entire process has been very enlightening.
Like most of our clients, these companies have an ongoing, service based relationship with their clients. They actively monitor the security alarms in houses and commercial properties and where required, run patrols and respond to these alarms. They also invoice their clients every month .
Over the last 12 months, the new clients we have assisted have carried between 50-100k worth of debtors past the due date of their invoices… sometimes until the next month’s billing cycle. Our brief was simple, implement a system which would reduce the number outstanding debtors. Below are the steps we took to help our client:
- We sent a letter to our client’s customers informing them that we were going to implement a new billing system to reduce the company’s administration (and thus keep their monitoring fees low)
- We also sent a direct debit authority so we could begin billing the following month (none of our clients mandated direct debit as a payment option – they left it up to their clients to decide how they would pay)
- We set up
PaymentHub Direct debit case study – Lay-by system for Peats Ridge Festival
Over the past 6 months we have partnered with Peats Ridge Festival to deliver a lay-by ticketing programme for festival goers to pay their tickets off . This has been a great example of how direct debit can be used to make a product more affordable. While there have been a few hiccups along the way, the feedback from ticket holders has been extremely positive. During our dealings with festival goers, we have been told numerous times that the direct debit payment plans offered through PaymentHub provided an affordable way for them to attend the festival.
The lay-by system worked as follows:
- Working with Peats Ridge Festival, we determined what the payment plans would look like, the frequency clients would be billed and a maximum number of payments
- Festival goers would sign up on a PaymentHub direct debit plan that suited their requirements
- We wanted to make sure that the ticket buyers knew when the funds would be debited from their account so we issued both SMS and email reminders about upcoming payments
- On completion of the payment plan, Peats would issue the tickets
A really simple approach that delivered positive benefits to both Peats Ridge Festival organisers and their clients!
Building a membership business (Part 1)
At PeopleHub, we service several different business types, but as specialists in recurring, direct debit type payments, it is usually subscription based services or clubs which have the greatest need for our products. We refer to these businesses as membership businesses and while they operate in different fields and service different demographics, the successful membership businesses share a common set of qualities.
Membership businesses are generally built around the following concepts:
- There is a common purpose or interest bringing a group of people (for example sailing, breeding canaries, sport or reading)
- Members are willing to pay an ongoing fee to be part of this group
- Members are provided with some material which identifies them as part of the group (for example a shirt, badge, certificate or piece of equipment).
We’ve been fortunate to speak to a number of successful membership organisations over the past 5 years and the list below describes the key activities they’ve undertaken to build their memberships from 1 member to thriving communities.
- Identify the key common needs of the group and go out of your way to deliver on those needs. Successful membership organisations are not built over night, but the fundamental element of any successful
PeopleHub Online – it really is that simple
Ok, by popular demand I am posting a series of questions we are regularly asked through the various forums and communities we operate in. This is by no meas an exhaustive list. Please feel free to post any further questions or comments and we’ll answer them where we can.
Q. How long has PeopleHub been in business?
A. PeopleHub has been helping businesses around Australia for 5 years now. During that time, our systems and procedures have been refined to give your business “MORE TIME, MORE MONEY AND MORE FLEXIBILITY.”
Q. I need a custom report for my business, can PeopleHub develop them?
A. Yes, we will gladly develop any additional reports you require at a small charge. These reports will be automatically sent to you at the intervals required by your business.
Q. I’m not really technically minded, how can PeopleHub help me with this?
A. PeopleHub’s online system has been built with you in mind. You want to be up and running quickly, without having to read large user manuals. If you are experiencing any problems getting started, simply call PeopleHub and we will step you through setting up your first 10 customers. We guarantee you will become
But wait….. there’s more – how to implement payment plans for your product
We get enquiries from many different business owners about our payment solutions. They suspect that we might be able to help them but don’t really know where to start and what the adoption of a payment plan type set-up might look like. The truth is, payment plans have been around for years. From placing a surfboard on lay-by when I was young to buying a set of steak knives from Tim Shaw, payment plans have been a simple and easy to implement strategy to make products more affordable. PeopleHub’s direct debit system can make payment plans a real option for your business. Below I’ll tackle some of the regular question.
How do I make sure I get paid?
You will note from a previous post on avoiding the pitfalls of direct debit that there are some risks of providing direct debit to your clients. There are a couple of strategies that you implement as part of your payment plan or lay-by system.
1 – Don’t provide the product until you have received full payment. This is obvious I know, but with the proliferation of rent to own products, many products are provided upfront with payment collected over a period
Customer Relationships – what are “terms of trade?”
There are a multitude of small business transactions carried out daily without a piece of paper being signed. These are small exchanges where the goods or services are provided and payment is made at the same time. In most cases, these transactions pass without event. There may be instances where the product has a fault or the consumer believes the product does not meet its advertised standard. The Trade Practices Act provides the legislative tool to manage these instances when they arise.
At PeopleHub, most of our clientele are either providing a service at a discounted price in return for the consumer guaranteeing their custom for an extended period of time (for example a gym membership) or alternatively they have provided a physical product and are collecting payment for this product over time (for instance a coffee machine). These long term customer relationships, while also covered by the Trade Practices Act, generally involve some form of contract or terms of trade.
What are terms of trade you might ask? It is simply a contract between you and your customer which sets out the rules for the purchase of the goods or services. It spells out the obligations of each party
The unofficial top 5 tips for starting and growing a business
As PeopleHub enters its adolescence as a business, we thought we’d reflect on some of the key things that have got us to this stage and share them with you to assist you in your business.
The mechanics of starting a business are well published on several Australian government sites. So rather than reproduce some already excellent information and advice, we’d thought we’d provide you with our top five considerations when starting a business.
- Do something you love – This is one old chestnut that gets trotted out by everybody who has written a motivational or self-help book. It is almost a cliché, but the simple fact is there is no such thing as “Mondayitis” if you are doing something you believe in and are passionate about. In all honesty, PeopleHub was not founded to be a payment business, we are passionate about helping small business and by providing a reliable and flexible direct debit solution we are achieving exactly what we set out to.
- Map out your business model – I cannot believe how helpful this is to a start up. The business model explains how you take the inputs to your business, convert them into a product