You may have heard the saying that two certainties in life are death and taxes. In AR, invoice disputes can be added to that list. No matter how good the team is, there will come a time when a customer disagrees with some aspect of their bill.
Just how important is the issue?
96% of people indicate that they are willing to change companies if they experience poor customer service. Because disputes are inevitable for every organization, the fundamental question is — what does your company do to make the process as painless as possible? That’s what will set you apart from the competition.
Start at the Source
Just because issues will occasionally arise, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do everything you can to minimize them. Manual data entry and siloed systems are frequent culprits in invoicing errors.
Using legacy software solutions that do not communicate with each other means that AR representatives must transfer the data from one system to another, opening the process to mistakes in data entry. When multiple systems are involved, this issue can be compounded with one error quickly becoming many.
An automation solution that works with your back-office solutions can resolve this issue. They communicate with your CRM and ERP, updating data in real-time and ensuring that the information matches across systems.
Just as importantly, having a single source of truth for customer information means that whether your customer is talking to a CSR, AR representative, or viewing their data online, they will be receiving the same information. When it comes to customer experience, there’s not much worse than inconsistency from your provider, feeding the idea that the organization can’t be relied upon.
Companies providing reliable service quality across multiple channels retain 89% of their customers, as opposed to just 33% when service is inconsistent.
YayPay provides transparency throughout the entirety of the credit-to-cash process, so your customer is never receiving mixed messages about their account.
Identify the Cause
When looking to optimize your team’s response to disputes, it helps to know the most common types they are likely to face.
- Pricing: an invoice reflects a different price than the one agreed upon by both parties.
- Quality: damaged goods, or the product/service received is below the customer’s required standards
- Administrative: missing or incorrect documents. This can be a typo in something as simple as company information.
- Payment Terms: a customer objects to an issue such as payment due dates
- Missing or Unaccounted Goods: the invoice contains charges for items that were not received or recorded.
- Double Billing: a customer is sent duplicate invoices in error.
- Returns or Change Orders: the invoice does not reflect the latest changes to the order or any returns that may have taken place.
- Invoice not received: the document in question was either not sent to or received by the customer.
Provide the Remedy
When there is an issue impacting your customer’s wallet, the last thing they want to do is jump through hoops to get it resolved. Sitting on hold, being transferred from department to department, or digging through and searching for the appropriate documents only adds to the aggravation.
An automation solution like YayPay simplifies the process. The customer self-service portal allows customers to access all of the relevant account information in a single location. They can log on and retrieve data at any time, allowing them to work at their convenience.
The software also provides customers with an easy way to register disputes quickly, before the information to the appropriate team member for resolution. By using a system that sorts disputes by classification, solutions can be quickly achieved. For instance, if the customer reports that they never received the invoice, the system will automatically send the necessary documents. The same applies to requests for supporting documentation.
For those issues that require a more in-depth response, the software provides all relevant information to the AR representative handling the dispute. Providing a complete view of the credit-to-cash process, everything the representative needs to resolve the problem is at their fingertips.
With 96% of customers stating that they will leave a company after receiving poor service, the simple fact of the matter is that customer experience is more important than ever.
This is especially important when customers are upset or object to an issue related to their money. How you respond and resolve the problem for them is what will set you apart from the pack and an automation solution like YayPay gives you the tools you need to do just that.
Taking the Next Step
To learn more about finance best practices that help make invoice disputes vanish, join our 20-minute masterclass on June 23rd at 10am ET / 3pm BST!
