Frequently Asked Questions

What does Invoice Connection do?

Basically, we distribute invoices and statements for distributors. We accept data and print files of invoices and statements and send them to your customers in one of 4 different formats: US Mail, FAX, Email, and Internet.

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How does Invoice Connection work?

It is much easier than you think. You continue to enter your billing information into your accounting system just like you do now. Then, instead of printing out invoices and dealing with all the postage, labor, and costs of folding, stuffing, sealing, and mailing; your invoices are sent to us electronically via a secure Internet site. We take over from there and deliver your invoices to your customers via US Mail, Fax, Email, or Internet. The delivery method can be changed at any time by either you or your customer by logging into www.invoiceconnection.com.

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How much does it cost?

The price depends on three factors. The first is how many invoices you send out. The second is how frequently you send the invoices. And the third is the method of delivery. Electronic delivery is much cheaper than sending via US Mail. Our customers tell us that their first bill from Invoice Connection is their biggest. As more and more of your customers convert to electronic delivery, your monthly bill decreases. To get a detailed price quote please contact Dub Kruse at 800-431-0061 or via email at dkruse@invoiceconnection.com.

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How much money will I save?

Again, this depends on the same 3 factors listed above and also how much you are spending today for labor, management, supplies, postage, etc. Our customers have all said that they have cut invoicing costs in half. We guarantee that the savings will please you and if you aren’t satisfied for any reason you can cancel the service. None of our customers have ever asked to cancel.

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What is the average invoice cost for current Invoice Connection customers?

We now distribute over 100,000 invoices per month. The average cost of all invoices, so far, is about $.24 cents per invoice. As we switch more of your customers to electronic delivery your costs will come down even more. We have several customers who have reduced their average cost to below $.20 per invoice.

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How are my invoices sent from Invoice Connection to my customers?

We send your invoices by four different methods; US Mail, FAX, email, and Internet. Most of our customers transmit their invoice/statement files to us, each evening. Within minutes of receiving these files, all email and Internet deliveries are completed. FAX deliveries are sent out the following morning, as we have found that some of your customers receive their FAX at their homes. Nighttime FAX delivery can be a real problem for them. US Mail deliveries are sent according to your agreed upon customized schedule of delivery. Most of our customers have asked for weekly delivery. Some have asked for delivery twice weekly. We can also mail daily. There may also be exceptions based upon billing amount or customer preference. We have the ability to customize a delivery schedule on any basis you can dream up.

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What are the mail delivery schedule options?

We can mail invoices on virtually any schedule. We can mail to your largest customers daily and other customers twice-weekly, or weekly. As we batch invoices together your cost comes down. When we mail five invoices in one envelope the costs are the lowest. The delivery rules are always customer by customer. Most of our customers choose to keep things simple and deliver invoices once a week as this creates the greatest cost savings.

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How quickly can I get the service started?

There are 4 basic steps that need to be completed to get started. These steps run concurrently.

1. File delivery from your system to ours. (Since we already work with Eclipse, Array, NxTrend, Facts, P-21 and other software systems, we know that this is an easy project.)
2. We create a customized invoice which will include your logo and will look as closely to your current invoice as we can make it. We do all the design work, but we ask you to approve the design of the new invoice before we move forward.
3. We create a customized statement for you, which you must also approve.
4. We run a “parallel” process for a week or more, while you continue to send your invoices as you do now. This parallel process will increase your comfort level while we do considerable cross-checking and testing. When you are completely satisfied, we agree on a date to go “Live.”

When we go “Live” we start distributing your invoices for you. We constantly monitor this process to make sure that everything is working correctly. In general, the setup process takes about one month and about 95% of the work is ours, not yours.

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Can Invoice Connection work with our accounting software?

Invoice Connection works with virtually every distributor accounting software system. Some of the software systems that we already work with include Eclipse, Array, P-21, NxTrend, Facts, and many more. We can also work with QuickBooks. Call us at 800-431-0061 to confirm compatibility with your accounting software.

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How will I know that my invoices were sent out?

At any time you can login to our distributor website, www.InvoiceConnection.com and check the delivery status of each and every invoice. You can also review and change the delivery method for each of your customers at any time.

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Will my customers be upset by this delivery change?

Absolutely not. In fact, your customers will love the free back up service that you will provide! They will be able to find a duplicate invoice 24 hours a day! If your customer is having trouble viewing an invoice, our technical rep will walk them through the process. Everything we do here at Invoice Connection is geared toward making delivery a better service than most distributors can provide by themselves.

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I already have employees who are doing the invoicing. What happens to them?

Our distributor customers have all found that their employees can do more productive tasks than folding and stuffing invoices. Using these employees to provide better service seems to be a common theme.

Will my customer ever see his competitor’s invoices?

Absolutely not. A customer can only see his own invoicing information.

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Are there any monthly fees, or additional material charges?

There are no monthly fees. There are no add-ons for larger envelopes or any other material. I plan to change my business software soon.

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Should I do that before I sign up for Invoice Connection?

There is no reason to wait. If you change software versions or your software firm, there will be no additional charges to continue the service.

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What about my monthly statements?

We mail statements for all our customers on a schedule that coincides with their month-end closing. After we have been processing invoices for a few weeks and your comfort level with our service is solid we begin distributing statements. The process for statement delivery is very similar to the process for invoices. Again, we do 99% of the work, requiring your approval of the statement form.

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How do we get our customers to switch to electronic delivery?

This is a combination of effort by both you and us. We send a notice explaining the benefits of electronic delivery with your customer’s monthly statement. We have found this to be a gentle way to encourage your customers to switch to electronic delivery. Your own sales representatives and counter personnel can also gently encourage the switch to electronic delivery. Your own staff has the ability to change the delivery method via the Internet using the administrative tools that come with our service. We have found that over time the gentle persuasion method works very well and your average costs will come down.

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What happens if my customer loses an invoice?

All invoices and statements are available for viewing and printing from a password protected website within a few hours of receipt of your daily invoice/statement data. Because this is Internet based it is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

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Can we make changes to delivery options after we go “Live?”

Absolutely. Our major goal is to help you reduce your invoicing costs. As we move forward, we will offer suggestions to streamline invoicing and reduce total costs. There are no additional charges for consultation or implementation of new rules of delivery.

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What is the delivery format for email?

All email delivery consists of a standard PDF file attachment. PDF files are viewed and printed by the customer using a free Adobe Acrobat reader . Most computers already have this software installed. Both invoices and statements can be delivered via email.

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If a customer gets 10 invoices in a day, will he get one email or 10 emails?

Just one.

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How long will Invoice Connection keep copies of old invoices?

At this point we are storing all invoices for two years. After two years we will archive invoices and make them available on verbal request via DVD ROM format. The main limitations to storing invoices are the cost of hard disk space and the speed of delivering invoice information via the Internet. As computers get faster, the Internet gets faster, and hard disk spaces get faster and cheaper, we will likely increase the length of time we store old invoices.

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Is my invoice/statement data safe?

Your data is absolutely safe. Nobody will ever see your invoices except your customers and your employees.

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We looked at Invoice Connection a while back, but we haven’t yet made a decision to use your service. Have any new features been added since Invoice Connection was introduced?

Our processes are constantly improving. All of the suggestions for changes have come from our existing distributor customers. To see some of the new controls and features that we have added just click on this link to watch our quick Internet movie: www.invoiceconnection.com/movie

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Who is Invoice Connection?

Invoice Connection is a wholly owned subsidiary of Pinnacle Information Systems established in 1995. Pinnacle is a privately held Carlsbad California company with thousands of customers using their construction related software programs for estimating and billing. Invoice Connection was formed by experts in automated mail processing and electronic document delivery. Its mission is to save distributors thousands of dollars spent delivering invoices and statements. It takes a lot of expertise in high-volume mail and document processing to become efficient enough to provide this money-saving service. Unless a distributor has expertise in mail processing automation and electronic billing the cost of invoice/statement delivery is huge.

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Are there any references that we can talk with?

Of course. Call us for the names of a few distributors who are already outsourcing their invoicing.

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What is the next step?

The next step is easy. Just give us the OK and we will start to test your data and files. We will create a custom invoice and statement for you. We will set up a delivery schedule for you. We will run parallel testing for a week or more until you are comfortable. When you are completely ready we will agree on a date to go “Live”

The amount of time that you have to devote to this project is minimal. We do 99% of the work!

Call Dub Kruse at 800-431-0061 to discuss any special delivery requests that your customers may have. We pride ourselves on being very easy to work with!

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