How ClientPay Helped AESTHETIC Grow Their Interior Design Business
Who: Nick E. Lyras of AESTHETIC by nick and richie Why: Startup looking to present the business with the highest level of professionalism Where: Ohio What: Interior Design
Nick Lyras and Richie Denson have always had a passion for design. For years they happily lent their expertise to friends and family who were looking for assistance with decor and renovations. Then in 2020, Nick and Richie decided to take the plunge and start their own interior design firm, AESTHETIC by nick and richie.
The company is still young but is already making an impact. One of the big reasons Nick and Richie have been able to grow their interior design business is that using online payments from ClientPay has helped them get paid faster and more consistently.
Read on to learn more about ClientPay’s role in AESTHETIC’s growth.
Improved cash flow with faster, more reliable payments
While there are plenty of variables to consider, the average time to profitability for a new business is about three to four years. And irrespective of how a company chooses to define “profitable,” the two factors that always come into play are, of course, how much money is going out and how much money is coming in.
For an interior design business, the investments you have to make before you can even begin accepting clients can feel like an albatross around your neck.
On top of a brand new website, you’ll need project management and accounting software built for interior designers. Then, you’ll need to obtain insurance, a business license, and any other licenses or certifications required by your state to operate as an interior design company. From there, you may need to hire a lawyer to review contracts and/or a bookkeeper to assist with managing your finances.
Though these initial investments are somewhat unavoidable, the good news is that if you start accepting online payments right out of the gate like Nick and Richie did, you can immediately start closing the gap between expenses and revenue by generating positive cash flow, which is essential to growing an interior design business.
Online payments are designed for speed, security, and efficiency. Since an online payment solution allows your clients to pay from anywhere, you don’t have to wait for a check to arrive in the mail or bide your time until you can meet in person to accept cash. Plus, because all funds are received electronically, there’s no need to go to a bank to make a deposit and you don’t have to worry about the risk of loss or theft.
According to our research, professional service providers who use online payments are paid 39% faster than those who use traditional payment methods. In fact, 62% of invoices sent via our solution are paid within 24 hours.
Not only that, on average, our users experience a 22% increase in revenue after incorporating an online payment solution into their workflow. This is because, along with the advantages listed above, accepting online payments means clients can pay by credit card, which gives them the freedom to make larger purchases.
Simplified operations that are more efficient and cost-effective
When many new business owners are just starting out, they rely on Excel to view and manage transaction histories. However, as you grow your interior design business, using Excel as a business ledger becomes increasingly difficult.
As great a tool as it is, utilizing Excel for this purpose will turn impractical much more quickly than you might anticipate. This is in addition to the fact that manually recording transaction data in spreadsheets creates plenty of opportunities for human error, which can transform reporting and reconciliation into a nightmare.
Rather than setting up a process you know will eventually become obsolete and put you in a position in the future where you have to spend time transferring information from one system to another, adopt an online payment solution.
Regardless of the size of your company, the fact is that to be confident about your financial data, you need complete visibility into every transaction. An online payment solution like ClientPay provides this visibility.
With ClientPay, you have on-demand access to everything you need to track transaction activity and simplify reconciliation—all in one place. The details of every transaction (including the date, client name, the amount charged, payment method used, and real-time status) are automatically recorded, and you can use advanced search functionality to find a specific charge.
Our flexible online reporting tools empower you to organize and analyze financial data in the way that best supports your unique needs. You don’t have to waste time digging in filing cabinets, searching your hard drive, or endlessly scrolling through spreadsheets looking for information because everything you need is right at your fingertips.
An online payment solution also helps increase the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of your interior design business by reducing the volume of paper documents you create and store.
Since the entire transaction takes place electronically, there’s no need for physical deposit slips, invoices, or receipts. You can email clients a digital copy of their invoice and then once payment is completed, send them a digital copy of their receipt. You can even electronically capture the client’s signature to confirm payment authorization.
Plus, our QR code functionality lets you offer clients the option to complete the payment process entirely on their phone, which simplifies payment acceptance even more.
A more convenient, client-focused payment experience
Modernizing your billing and payments process with an online payment solution helps you grow your interior design business by facilitating a healthier cash flow, greater operational efficiency, and faster payments. But that’s not all. The cherry on top is that allowing clients to pay their invoices online supports a better client experience, which can improve acquisition and retention.
Among the most common reasons interior designers cite as to why they are hesitant to adopt online payments is they believe it can cause this aspect of the client experience to feel impersonal. And in an industry that relies heavily on building strong relationships with your clients, it’s understandable to want to maximize the number of opportunities you have to connect.
In reality, an online payment solution makes it considerably easier to provide a personalized, client-focused payment experience. By enabling you to expand your list of accepted payment methods as well as making your billing and payments more flexible, an online payment solution allows your clients to pay invoices and communicate with you in the ways they prefer.
For example, our custom Payment Pages allow your clients to easily view their invoices and immediately pay any outstanding balance via either their computer or phone. You can add a link to your secure Payment Page to your website, emails, invoices, and even text messages so every client can use their preferred communication channel.
These Payment Pages are customized to your business and hosted on our secure server, which means clients don’t have to enter private information on a third-party website or log in to a separate portal—a frequent critique of other payment solutions providers.
Additionally, with our Scheduled Payments feature, you can set up recurring payments that automatically charge clients at designated intervals. This breaks up large expenses into smaller, more manageable transactions as part of a payment plan that can be customized to fit your clients’ individual schedules and budgets.
Plus, clients don’t have to remember to submit a payment each month. They just need to provide their payment details once and the charges will run automatically.
With financial stability comes the freedom to explore new ways to grow your interior design business. By adopting the right technology (such as an online payment solution), you can significantly increase your firm’s efficiency and cost-effectiveness as well as boost your cash flow, setting you up for long-term profitability.