Challenge: How to Efficiently Handle Payments for High-Volume Clients
“Our highest volume client is the Attorney General,” shared Marco Coppola, manager of The Daily Territorial, the premier publication for Pima County’s legal community in Tucson, Arizona. “They process between 50 to 100 notices a month.” Given such substantial volume, making this client pay separate invoices for each notice would create a tedious process. “We don’t want the office manager or the secretaries to have to go into Column and pay for each notice individually,” explained Coppola. “They should be able to just pay for everything at once. This is essential in ensuring that the payment process isn’t burdensome for these clients.”
Solution: Column’s Bulk Invoicing Feature
Since onboarding with Column in May 2021, The Daily Territorial has continuously encouraged more of its clients to use the platform and has been a champion of Column’s bulk invoicing feature. By enabling this feature in the settings of their Column account, publishers can give clients the option to pay for numerous notices in one itemized invoice. This feature makes it extremely convenient to process high-volume clients through Column. “Bulk invoicing is a necessity for people like your trustee sales clients and your municipality departments,” explained Coppola. Column’s bulk invoice is also detailed, making it easy for clients to verify each notice that’s included. “The itemization lets clients efficiently check and reference the notices they’re paying for,” Coppola emphasized.
Moreover, bulk invoicing is an essential feature for organizations that have numerous staff members placing notices. “How do we efficiently track notices placed by multiple secretaries within an organization? How do we manage their payments and associated affidavits?” are questions that Coppola had to consider before bulk-invoicing was available in Column. “Now, instead of inundating each secretary or internal staff member with individual invoices, it’s infinitely simpler to consolidate everything into one single, detailed invoice that states the total owed,” said Coppola. “Column’s bulk invoicing feature addresses this seamlessly.”
Impact: Better Client Experience, Streamlined Payments
“The bulk invoicing feature doesn’t have as much of an impact for us at the newspaper as it does for our clients. For them, it’s a game-changer,” stated Coppola. “It’s important that we’re continuing to provide the best experience possible to our clients, that we’re strengthening those relationships by offering more efficient payment options.” By providing the convenience of one consolidated payment, Coppola’s newspaper and other newspapers on Column are able to give clients a more pleasant, streamlined payment experience.
Coppola highlighted three additional features in Column that help newspapers improve their financial operations:
Easy Online Payments.
“Column’s biggest contribution when it comes to payments is giving clients the ability to pay online,” said Coppola. “Nothing is as clean and secure as Column when it comes to making payments online. Unlike other vendors, Column is a one-stop shop. It gives you the ability to see the notice, see how it’s getting printed, see its publication dates, see what the affidavit is going to look like, and pay for it, all in one place.” Learn more about how clients can do fast, easy, secure online payment.
Efficient Aging Tracking.
“Past overdue invoices can be a huge problem for newspapers,” said Coppola. “Your reports tab in Column gives you an overview of your monthly revenue volume, the number of notices being inputted, and the payments that are being processed. There’s also an aging report where you can see the breakdown. Being able to keep track of that in Column is huge.” Learn more about your built-in reporting dashboard.
Faster Payment Collections.
“Column increases transparency between the client and the newspaper,” said Marco. “Both the newspaper and the client can see when a notice hasn’t been paid for, or when a payment is pending. This lets newspapers remind clients that it’s time to pay, and helps clients keep track of their invoices and records.” Learn more about our automatic overdue invoice reminders
Conclusion
“Column’s system is all about improving efficiency,” said Coppola. By embracing solutions like Column’s bulk-invoicing features, Wick Communications has improved its operational efficiency and enhanced its relationships with high-volume clients. “Transparency and convenience,” emphasized Coppola. “That’s what we always aim to offer.”