This is a guest blog by Sam Lulla, Head of Product Marketing at Wholesail. Time is of the essence, especially when it comes to getting paid. For Food & Beverage distributors, delays in payment can create cash flow issues, impact operations, and strain customer relationships. Enter Wholesail, a simple ERP online payment processing plug-in made for Food & Beverage distributors that helps streamline Accounts Receivables and get paid faster.
Wholesail’s CEO, Eli Chait, grew up in the restaurant business. His first job was entering invoices into the accounting system for his father’s restaurant, Spark Woodfire Grill in Los Angeles. When tasked with statement reconciliation he learned how frequently invoices are lost, how difficult they are to track down and how often payment mistakes are made because of miscommunications.
Unfortunately, as messy as AP can be for restaurants and retailers, it’s even harder for Food & Beverage Distributors’ AR departments. Emails fly back and forth as the customer’s accounting never seems to match with their own. Customers frequently make payment mistakes which leads to disputes and hours of clean-up. Accounts Receivable reps (and oftentimes Sales Reps) spend hours on collections instead of more strategic tasks. Payments often get delayed and customer relationships slowly erode. When customers do pay, it can take hours to reconcile the payments.
Two decades later, the AR/AP process hasn’t changed much.
Here’s how Wholesail helps:
1. Proactive reminders instead of sharply worded collections emails
Many companies start the collection process when invoices are already past due. They rely on “dunning” letters or dedicate hours to calling customers to chase down payments. We take a different approach at Wholesail. We proactively send automated weekly statements so customers have full transparency to their account standing. Data in the statements is pulled from your ERP, so it is always up-to-date.
2. Easy to access self-service Customer Portal
Every Invoice or statement sent through Wholesail provides a “Smart Link” that a customer’s team can use to easily access their very own Customer Portal without needing an account. 87% of our vendors’ customers manage their payments through the Wholesail Customer Portal. Within the Portal, your customers can easily view, print, or pay invoices and apply credit memos. In addition, they can proactively set-up Autopay to ensure payments are never late or missed. 50% of our Wholesail payments are through Autopay.
3. Payments are automatically reconciled in your ERP
When payments are made through Wholesail, they are automatically reconciled in your ERP system and money is deposited into your bank account within 2-3 days. AR teams save 20+ hours a week with Wholesail.
4. Save on Credit Card Fees
Wholesail makes it easy to pass along credit card fees to your customers while always providing them the option to pay by ACH for Free.
5. Unlimited Users – Sales teams love Wholesail
Many of our customers’ sales teams utilize Wholesail to access sales insights and real-time customer account data on the go. Wholesail helps them “collect” so they can focus more on deepening relationships and growing the business.
6. We help you drive online payments adoption
We aren’t your normal payments company. We make ourselves available to your team to implement strategies and campaigns that get your customers to pay faster. With over 30,000 businesses using our platform, we have several best practices to share. In addition, we provide your customers with 24/7 support. Your team can focus on selling your products while we take care of any software or payment account related questions. Think of us as an extension of your team!
With Wholesail, Food & Beverage distributors can look forward to less AR stress, more effective communication, and improved relationships with their customers. Wholesail is not just a tool; it’s a pathway to more efficient and harmonious business operations.
Interested to learn more, please sign up for a demo here.
Want to hear what our customers are saying – read some testimonials on our website.
