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Yearly contracts

Posted by Robbie on January 24, 2014 at 9:48am

How do you guys introduce your yearly contract to your clients?

I'm planning trying to encourage my new clients this year to go on to them, to improve my winter income.

Do you prefer standing orders or direct debits?

From what I understand about the two is direct debits are more expensive and time consuming to set up but are more secure for the business and you can employ an outside agency to collect the money for you. (A lot of gyms do it this way).
A standing order is easy for the client to set up but doesn't give you as much protection.

Also and probably the most attractive option is to use the gocardless

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  • PRO
    Brian www.mibservices.co.uk January 24, 2014 at 10:26am
    Standing orders give your clients more confidence as they have control of payments. Quite a few of our commercial customers pay this way. One invoice a year detailing works to be carried out and when. Cuts down on their paperwork and yours. I offer customers who opt to pay this way a discount or a gaurenteed price freeze for two years. Beneficial to all parties concerned.
  • PRO
    Brian www.mibservices.co.uk January 24, 2014 at 11:27am
    You detail and price summer and winter works separately and add both for annual price then ÷ by 12. It is important to state in the quote that if the contract is teminated early then there will be a balance to pay, as obviously more of the contracted work is done during growing season.
  • Ray McIntosh January 24, 2014 at 11:30am
    Hi Andrew, within our terms and conditions we have a payment paragraph (paid within 4 weeks of due date) and cancellations (fees due = hours to date x hourly rate - paid to date. Provided this is given to and agreed to by clients you should be able to collect fees outstanding. We also give customers a Calendar of attendances so they can clearly see what will be undertaken when. And I think this helps with appreciation that bulk of work is March to November.
  • Ray McIntosh January 24, 2014 at 11:33am
    Robbie after 1st season when spring arrives we give all customers a proposal for annual service. With an approximate breakdown they can see where their money goes and how the annual fees are calculated
  • Neil Petrie BSc Landscape Mgt January 24, 2014 at 12:16pm
    As above Andy. We have an annual cost divided over 12 months. Our invoicing software always shows us what is outstanding for the year. So when payments are made monthly they are subtracted from the annual amount. If a standing order was terminated early the customer would simply receive an invoice for the remainder and a statement of their account with us.
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