Adhesives and abrasives distributors live on a pile of small invoices. A box of discs here, two cases of masking tape there, a dozen threadlocker bottles for a maintenance department. Then a few larger ones: an OEM's monthly adhesive release, a dispensing system, a plant's quarterly consumables order. Every invoice that sits unpaid an extra couple of weeks slows your cash, and your office spends time answering "Can you resend that?" and "What PO was this against?"
Let customers see and pay invoices themselves
In the app, customers see their invoices: what is billed and what is open. A plant's accounts payable clerk can find a copy without calling. Every invoice can carry a Pay now button through pay links, so a customer ready to pay can do it on the spot.
That helps most with small accounts. A body shop owner or a two-person fab shop will often pay promptly when it is easy, and put it off when it means finding a checkbook. It also helps a manufacturer whose AP team wants clean copies to match against POs and blanket releases.
Collections without the awkward calls
Collections and pay links send past-due reminders with a Pay now button on every invoice. The tone moves from friendly to firm as the invoice ages, and reminders can go out automatically. Your office stops writing the same reminder by hand.
Body shops are a special case. Many wait on insurance payments themselves, so their cash comes in lumps. A steady, polite reminder schedule keeps your invoice near the top of the pile when the money arrives, without anyone on your team making an uncomfortable call.
The collections helper gives reps a view of who owes money and how late, a stop-by nudge when they are near an account with a past-due balance, and the reminder schedule. A rep dropping off disc samples can mention an open invoice to the shop manager, who often knows exactly why it is stuck.
Some habits that help in this trade:
- Turn on pay links for every account, not only slow payers.
- Start reminders friendly and let them firm up as invoices age.
- Let reps see past-due balances before a visit.
- Use Look up an invoice when a customer calls, so the answer is on screen right away.
- Watch dispensing equipment invoices closely; one late payment there matters more than fifty small ones.
Find any invoice fast
Look up an invoice lets reps and the owner find any invoice and see what is still open. When a buyer asks about a cartridge order from two months ago, the rep has the answer on his phone, not back at the office.
Texts to customers help too. A rep can text a reminder from the app, and the text is saved to the account so the office knows what was said.
For the owner, the exec dashboard shows sales, margin, cash, receivables and pace on one screen. You see receivables creeping up before they become a cash problem.
Blanket releases deserve their own attention. When an OEM releases adhesive and tape against an annual agreement, each release becomes an invoice. Getting each one in front of the right person with a Pay now button, and following up on a sensible schedule, keeps a steady program from becoming a steady receivable.
None of this changes how you bill. The app works with your existing ERP. It changes how easy it is for customers to pay and how much time your office spends chasing. In a business where you may be holding production adhesives and specialty tapes for a customer's line, getting cash in sooner pays for that inventory.
Want to walk through it with your own assembly, maintenance and body shop customers? Book a demo.