How to save your rental and hiring business time and money

As a result of the decline in demand during COVID-19, loss of revenue has been prevalent across the whole of the rental and hiring industry. From restrictions on gatherings and social events affecting party supply rental companies, to the halting of construction nation-wide impacting heavy machinery and scaffolding businesses, no part of the rental and hiring industry has remained unaffected.

As businesses shift their focus to remaining profitable, business owners are looking to automate their manual processes as a means to save valuable time and money.

The biggest area of growth for businesses in the rental and hiring industry, to maximise their time and money, lies in the exploration of different payment methods as a way to improve engagement with your business and introduce more efficient reconciliation processes.

The ability to take payments that suit the restrictions of the current climate and your business needs is becoming more urgent for businesses operating in the rental and hiring industry.

Not to mention that chasing payments and managing administration and reporting tasks can take you and your team hours to complete each week, taking time away from pursuing more important ventures.

Automating your payments can help with these time-consuming tasks and improve your cash flow.

Here’s how:

Automate payments with Direct Debit

It can be a frustrating experience needing to get in contact with customers to chase up late payments. Not only does it put a strain on your relationship with your customer, but it also takes up valuable time out of your day. Most importantly, it puts your business in a risky position by not having a healthy and consistent cash flow.

For your recurring payments, signing up your customers with a direct debit agreement can save both you and your customers a lot of hassle.

Direct debits can be set up to automatically take regular payments from a customer with no manual input from either the customer or your business.

A direct debit agreement takes the pressure off customers who struggle to remember to pay their bills and removes your stress of needing to chase down missed or late payments.

Instead you can create a payment schedule that suits both parties, so your customers aren’t hit with large bills for a project, but rather small, manageable payments, and your business can rely on steady cash flow.

Take payments online, over the phone or in person with Real Time Payments

For missed payments or one off invoices that need to be paid quickly, real time payments can help you bridge the gap. With the ability to pay anytime, anywhere, your customers can pay you quickly and safely.

You will receive instant verification of any payments that have been made through real time payments so you can rest easy knowing your money is on it’s way.

Real time payments can be used to secure deposits on hired or rented equipment or as a means of catching up any missed payments. Given the current payment climate, the ability to safely take payments online or over the phone is a must have for all businesses.

Offer your customers flexibility with BPAY

BPAY allows you to accept payments using a secure and efficient system for large or one-off payments.

BPAY payments are initiated by the customer with either a general or unique biller code and a Customer Reference Number (CRN). BPAY payments don’t capture any personal or account details during the payment process (other than the type of bank account or debit/credit card used) meaning that customers feel secure paying your business.

The benefit of customer initiated payments for your business means that the risk of disputed payments is much lower as the customers will be able to write their own description for the payment, making it more recognisable in their transaction history.

Best of all for your business, BPAY payments are available for settlement the next business banking day after a customer initiates a payment.

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Now is the time to set up payments before your customers return

Reconcile all your payments in the one place

Wasting time trying to chase up invoices and customer account details is a stress no business owner has time for at the moment. The good news is, manually reconciling payments on your bank statements and uploading data into different systems to generate your reports is no longer necessary.

Ezidebit provides you with one central reporting platform, pulling in all your payment methods into one easy to manage space.

Our online portal EziOnline, can help you keep track of payment details for your customers, receipts, customer account information and payment summaries.

This consolidated approach to reporting saves you time by organising everything in one place, giving you complete visibility over your various income streams.

Adding more time back into your day by automating and streamlining your payments will let you focus your attention on other important areas of your business. To find out more about streamlining your payments, get in touch with our team here at Ezidebit today.