Every electrical distributor carries receivables that are bigger than they should be. Contractors pay when the GC pays them, and the GC pays when the owner releases the draw. You can't change that cycle. What you can change is everything that slows things down after the contractor has the money.
That part is usually paperwork. The contractor's bookkeeper can't find an invoice. A job number is missing. A packing slip doesn't match. Someone wants a copy of a statement. Each of those is a week of delay on a check that was ready to go.
Let customers see their own invoices
With the app, customers see what is billed and what is open. They can look up any invoice themselves and see what is still unpaid. When the contractor's office is putting together the pay app for a job, they don't need to call your AR clerk for copies. They pull them up.
That also cuts down on short pays and disputes. When the customer can track every order and see exactly what shipped against which job, there is less to argue about at the end of the month.
Pay links and collections that run on a schedule
Every invoice can carry a Pay now button. Past-due reminders go out with a pay link right in them, and the tone can go from friendly to firm as an invoice ages. You can run the reminders automatically or send them yourself.
The collections helper gives your credit manager one place to see:
- Who owes money and how late they are.
- The reminder schedule each account is on.
- A stop-by nudge for the rep who will be at that contractor's shop or job site this week.
- Which invoices are still open on any account, in one lookup.
The stop-by nudge is a useful one for electrical. Your outside reps are already visiting contractors and job trailers. If they know a $14,000 gear invoice is 45 days out before they walk in, they can ask about it in person, which is often all it takes.
Collect without hurting the relationship
Electrical contractors are long-term relationships. You don't want collections to feel like a fight. Automated reminders actually help with that, because the reminder isn't personal. It is just the schedule. Your rep gets to stay the helpful one, and the system does the asking.
The office benefits too. Instead of a clerk spending afternoons calling down an aging report, reminders go out on their own schedule and the clerk spends time on the handful of accounts that really need a phone call.
What faster pay is worth
We won't put a number on it, because it depends on your accounts and your terms. But the reasoning is simple. Every day sooner that a contractor pays is a day less that you are financing their job. That cash is what lets you stock the gear and wire your contractors need for the next job, and lets you offer terms to the next good contractor who walks in. Faster pay also makes it easier to say yes when a good customer asks for a bigger line on a bigger job.
The app works with your existing ERP, so invoices and payments stay tied to the account records your team already uses.
Book a demo and we will walk through it with your counter and inside sales team.