Introduction:

The client is a U.S.-based home services provider operating across Texas, California, and Florida. Through a user-friendly online portal and mobile app, they delivered: 

1. On-demand cleaning, 
2. HVAC maintenance, 
3. plumbing, 
4. appliance installation, 
5. pest control, and 
6. professional sanitization to both residents and commercial property owners. 

As for the services range, the pricing is dynamically calculated based on property size, service urgency, estimated duration, and any add-ons. 

Reason for Collaboration:

The business team leverages Sales Cloud to track customer accounts, streamline opportunities, and accelerate deal closure, and Salesforce CPQ to generate tailored, error-proof quotes. However, the invoicing and payment collection process was handled manually by their finance team. 

They created invoices outside Salesforce using spreadsheets and email, followed by manual follow-ups for payments. This process lacked visibility and consistency, often leading to delays, missed follow-ups, and coordination gaps between service, support, and finance teams.

The client partnered with Cyntexa to streamline their quote-to-cash process and reduce manual intervention across invoicing, payment collection, and tracking. 

The objective was to automate invoice creation, support milestone billing, enable secure digital payments via an integrated gateway (Authorize.Net). They also aimed to track real-time payment status within Salesforce, and enhance the customer experience through timely notifications.

Challenges:

1. Manual Invoicing: Once a quote was approved, the finance team created invoices manually using tools like Excel, PDF templates, or third-party apps outside Salesforce. These were emailed separately with no linkage to the original quote or Opportunity in their Sales Cloud setup. This process was time-consuming and error-prone and led to delayed billing, inconsistent formats, and missed follow-ups. It also created a lack of real-time visibility, causing scheduling errors and revenue leakage.
2. Delayed Payments: The business lacked a structured system that could track pending payments or send timely reminders. As a result, they faced missed follow-ups, payment delays, and customers overlooking their dues. This inconsistent collection process affected their cash flow, disrupted project schedules, and delayed service delivery.
3. Lack of Payment Visibility: There was no central visibility and awareness for the field agents and technicians about the payment status. They were often unclear, and this confusion led to miscommunication and duplication of work assignments when services were scheduled without confirmed payment.
4. No Support for Milestone Billing: Many of their clients’ high-value services required split payments (e.g., 50% before scheduling, 50% after completion). However, without a feasible solution that could map these split bills, the team used to do it manually, which led to inconsistencies and errors. 

Solutions:

Sales Cloud tracks customer accounts and links opportunities to their corresponding quotes and invoices. This delivered a cohesive, end-to-end view of each customer journey from first inquiry through final payment. The client was using Salesforce CPQ for generating accurate quotes. We built on this foundation by integrating ChargeOn and Authorize.Net while also leveraging Salesforce’s automation tools to streamline billing. 

We customized automation flows and configured milestone billing logic that now generates and sends milestone-based invoices automatically, ensuring accuracy and consistency. 

1. Automated Invoice Generation: Once a service request is captured via call, website, or app, the sales team generates a quote using Salesforce CPQ. Upon quote approval, invoices are now automatically created and linked to the corresponding Opportunity and Service Record in Salesforce. This reduces manual work and speeds up the billing cycle.
2. Automated Reminders: We customized scheduled flows in Salesforce to automatically send reminder emails to customers with pending invoices. If a payment link expires or goes unused, the custom-built functionality in ChargeOn facilitates auto-generation of a new one to ensure the customer always has a valid link. This customization reduced manual follow-ups by the teams, helped avoid missed payments, and improved cash flow by speeding up collections.
3. Digital Payment Links: Each invoice includes a secure, auto-generated payment link that is sent to the customer via email immediately after invoice creation. The customer can pay through their preferred payment method, without logging into any portal. 
   
   ChargeOn helped with Salesforce and Authorize.Net integration, which redirects the customer to the ChargeOn portal and enables an easy transaction process. These links are trackable in Salesforce, which the internal teams can monitor. They can view the customer and invoice status, whether paid or not. It reduces delays and eliminates the need for manual payment coordination.
4. Billing Configuration: We configured ChargeOn’s partial payment feature and integrated it with Salesforce CPQ to support milestone-based billing. The system now generates multiple invoices as per the quote structure, reducing manual effort and ensuring accurate staged payments.

Benefits:

1. Timely revenue collection through automated invoicing and reminders
2. Less manual coordination across teams
3. Real-time visibility of payment status for all stakeholders
4. Supports both full and milestone-based payments
5. Accurate and faster revenue recognition