SolarCleaningBossPro Blog — Recurring Cleanings

Auto-Charging Each Recurring Solar Cleaning Visit to the Card on File

A recurring plan that has to be invoiced and chased every visit is only half a plan. The cleaning came due on its own and the reminder went out on its own; the payment should happen on its own too. Auto-charging the card on file is how plan visits get paid without anybody in the office making a phone call.

Why Plans and Cards Belong Together

Reminders Before Every Solar Cleaning Plan Visit covered how customers know you are coming. This article covers the other end of the visit: getting paid.

Paper invoices and pay-later links work fine for one-time jobs. For a twice-a-year customer, they mean an unpaid invoice every six months, a reminder email, maybe a call, and a customer who has to think about you in a slightly annoying way twice a year. A card on file turns all of that into nothing. The visit is done, the card is charged, the receipt arrives.

It also makes the plan easier to sell. “We charge the card on file when we finish” is part of what makes a plan feel like no effort to the customer.

Getting the Card on File

There are a few natural places to capture a card in SolarCleaningBossPro:

• The website sign-up form. New customers pick a service and enter a card when they sign up. One click converts the sign-up into a client.
• The customer app. Customers can add or update their card anytime.
• The first visit. If the customer paid the first cleaning online, ask them to keep the card on file for the plan.

The best time to ask is when they say yes to the plan. “We will keep your card on file and charge it after each cleaning” is a normal part of the conversation.

Charge on Completion or on a Schedule

SolarCleaningBossPro can auto-charge in two ways:

• On completion. When the tech taps Complete on the phone, the invoice is created and the card on file can be charged right then. The customer gets their invoice, and the job is paid before the truck pulls away.
• On a schedule. Some companies prefer to review the day's work first and run charges on a set schedule.

Either way, the invoice carries line items and sales tax, so the customer sees exactly what was done: the cleaning, any bird proofing or critter guards, the inspection if it was included.

When a Card Fails

Cards expire, get replaced after fraud alerts, or hit limits. A plan with a failed card is a plan at risk, because the customer may not even know.

Past-due follow-up handles the reminder. Customers can update their card in the customer app and pay the open invoice online. For a long-time plan customer, a friendly text from the office (“Looks like the card on file was declined after Tuesday's cleaning, here's where to update it”) usually takes care of it.

Make checking failed charges part of the office's weekly routine, right next to working overdue pins on the Waiting List.

Commercial Accounts and Monthly Billing

Auto-charge per visit is ideal for homeowners. Commercial property owners with several buildings usually prefer something else: one statement a month. Set those clients to Monthly account billing and they get a single statement covering every site cleaned that month, each line labeled with the address. That is covered in Monthly Statements for Property Owners on Recurring Solar Cleaning Plans.

Trust and Transparency

Auto-charge only works if customers trust it. A few habits help:

• Tell customers clearly that the card is charged after each cleaning.
• Let the reminders go out, so the charge never comes as a surprise.
• Take before-and-after photos so they can see what they paid for.
• Keep invoices in the customer app where they can look anytime.
• Give notice before any price change.

Customers rarely mind being charged for work they expected. They mind being surprised.

Keep invoices consistent from visit to visit. When a twice-a-year customer sees the same clear line items each time, with any extras like an inspection or bird proofing listed separately, there is nothing to question. A surprise line item, on the other hand, is the fastest way to get a confused phone call.

If a customer would rather pay each invoice online than keep a card on file, that is fine too. The invoice still appears in the customer app after each visit, and past-due follow-up covers anything that sits too long.

Paid Without the Paperwork

The cleaning came due, the customer was reminded, the tech did the work and the card was charged. That is a plan visit that never needed the office. For how billing fits with plans, the Waiting List and the tech app, visit the recurring solar cleaning software page.