You’ve done the work. Now it’s time to send an invoice and get paid. Admittedly, invoicing is not the most glamorous part of running an appliance repair company. In fact, many entrepreneurs dread preparing and sending invoices.
For an appliance repair person, writing invoices is straight-up boring. You know you’d rather be busy fiddling with electronics and machines than dealing with paperwork.
But an invoice is one of the most important documents for your business. An invoice requests payment from customers for appliance services or products. This is how most service providers get paid. Also, invoices are a big part of financial bookkeeping.
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What if there was a way to make invoicing less boring? Imagine a scenario where you didn’t have to write each invoice from scratch. That would save you a lot of repetition, trial and error, and paperwork. Realizing this is surprisingly easy; you only need an appliance repair invoice template.
It’s about time you started using invoice templates. This article explains everything you need to know about appliance repair invoice templates. Learn how templates simplify invoicing, what to include in an appliance service invoice, and how to design an invoice template for your business.
Let’s get started.
Why Do You Need an Appliance Repair Invoice Template?
First of all, what is an invoice template?
An invoice template is a pre-formatted document layout that makes creating, editing, and customizing invoices easier. It’s a base document containing all the basic invoice information. All you have to do is fill in the billing particulars for each invoice.
With an invoice template, you don’t have to create an invoice from scratch whenever you bill an appliance repair customer. You can simply reuse the template.
You can probably already see how an invoice template could benefit your appliance repair business. To make the benefits clearer, here are five reasons why you need an appliance repair invoice template:
Save Time
Let’s say your appliance repair business sends an average of 10 invoices daily. It takes you 15 minutes to write each invoice on a blank document. That works out to two and a half hours of writing invoices every day. By that calculation, you lose about three days every month preparing invoices.
That’s plenty of time you could otherwise spend repairing appliances, chasing leads, or serving customers.
If you had a ready invoice template, preparing a new invoice would barely take a minute. That’s because you wouldn’t have to type the entire document word for word. This saves you time to work on more productive tasks.
Plus, the sooner you send an invoice, the sooner you get paid. In fact, quick invoicing generally increases payment odds. With an appliance repair invoice template, you can invoice customers on the spot or as soon as the job is done.
Save Money
Sending many invoices is a good sign that your appliance repair business is thriving. But, preparing invoices can quickly overwhelm your staff. You might even be tempted to hire a dedicated accountant just to relieve the pressure.
Unless you need more bookkeeping help, you don’t need to hire an accountant solely to handle invoices. It’s just not economical.
An invoice template may not do an accountant’s job, but it can drastically ease your invoice burden at no extra cost. Besides, the time a template saves in writing invoices easily translates into cash savings.
Maintain Invoicing Consistency
Using a standardized appliance repair invoice template creates consistency in your invoices. All your invoices will have the same format, branding style, and general layout.
Why is this important?
For one, it makes bookkeeping so much easier. Thanks to the common format, your invoice repository maintains consistent, easy-to-read data. This makes sifting and referencing invoices a breeze. Secondly, consistency in financial bookkeeping reduces the risk of errors.
Give Your Invoices a Professional Look
Many contractors and service providers do not give much thought to their invoice’s appeal. But who has the time to painstakingly style each invoice with graphics, logos, and fancy tables?
Thankfully, invoice templates come pre-styled with thoughtful designs. A standard template gives your appliance service invoices a professional and polished look.
A branded and well-laid-out invoice appears credible, trustworthy, and convincing. In business, it often pays to be different. Distinguish your brand from other appliance repair companies by sending your customers non-generic documents.
Personalize Your Invoices
Invoice templates let you personalize your company’s invoices down to the finest detail. And not only that. You can customize each invoice depending on the customer, the type of invoice, and the nature of the appliance repair service.
The beauty of a customizable invoice template is that everything is already laid out. Yours is just to choose the color schemes, fonts, and components.
What to Include in the Appliance Repair Invoice
A formal invoice is a comprehensive payment document. Here are seven essential items to include in your appliance repair invoice:
Your Appliance Repair Company’s Branding
Let’s start the list with an invoice element many small business owners forget or ignore.
Do not skip on branding all your invoices. Ensure every outgoing invoice features your company’s unique branding elements, including:
- Color scheme
- Logo
- Physical address
- Contact information
- Company seal or stamp
- Slogan
A branded invoice shows professionalism and credibility. The branding will also catch the customer’s eye, making the invoice easier to recognize. Otherwise, the document might get lost among the clutter in the recipient’s mailbox or inbox.
The Customer’s Details
Invoices are addressed to specific persons or organizations. So, every invoice must include details of the recipient. And it doesn’t matter whether the recipient is already addressed in the letter or email relaying the invoice.
Typically, the recipient’s information goes at the top right corner, just like in a formal letter. For appliance repair customers, you may cite their name, physical address, email, and phone number.
Adding the recipient’s information is not just a formality. That’s the part of the invoice that indicates who’s being billed. Without it, the invoice does not obligate anyone to pay.
A Brief Description of the Repair Services Rendered or Items Sold
Your customers will obviously want to know what they’re paying for when presented with an invoice. Explain it to them with a short description of the appliance repair services rendered.
A basic description of the service will do.
Something like this:
“Fixed leaking refrigerator by replacing the inlet valve in the water supply line. The refrigerator’s door seals were also replaced, as the old ones were worn. The job took three hours.”
Also, be sure to mention any swapped parts. And when billing a purchase transaction, list all the appliances or parts sold in a receipt-style layout.
The Amount Owed
The single most important thing in an invoice is the bottom line. How much are you asking the customer to pay?
Break down the costs depending on how you price your appliance repair services. The breakdown may include the following items:
- Hourly charges
- The cost of spare parts
- Transportation/commuting/courier fare
- Service fees
- Tax
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In short, justify the bill.
Billing repair services can sometimes be tricky. As a rule of thumb, never surprise your clients with a sudden invoice. Prepare your customer for the costs before you even begin a repair job. Make an educated estimate of the expected costs and check that the customer is comfortable with the figure.
If they are not happy with the initial quotation, they won’t like the invoice either. And the last thing you want is an unpaid invoice after excellent appliance repair work.
When and How to Pay the Invoice
Include payment information on your invoices. Explain to the customer how to pay the bill and the payment deadline. Write everything the customer needs to know about the terms of payment.
Generally, invoices are payable within 30 days. The payment method may be cash, checks, bank transfers, credit cards, or digital wallets. The important thing is to offer the customer as many payment options as possible. That way, they won’t have an excuse for payment delays.
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Reference Information
Mention any referential or contractually relevant information regarding the invoice. For instance, each invoice needs a unique invoice number for quick referencing in filing systems. You can also mention other documents related to the invoice, perhaps a quotation or job card. And don’t forget to date and sign the document.
Explanatory Footnotes
You can add footnotes for things you want to make extra clear to the customer. The footnotes are also for any miscellaneous information that doesn’t naturally fit anywhere on the document. Explanatory footnotes usually cover the following details:
- Discounts
- Penalty charges
- Late fees
- Returns and replacement policies
- Service warranties
- Disclaimers
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Creating Your Own Appliance Repair Invoice Template
An invoice template is definitely a must-have whether you repair household electronic devices or sell appliance products. That said, how do you make an invoice template?
Generally, there are two ways you can create an appliance repair invoice template. One, you can write it from scratch using a word processor (Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Pages, etc.). Just fire up your favorite word processor, open a blank page, and start designing your template.
Creating an invoice template from a blank document takes time and some level of creativity. You have to bring in every invoice element, from graphics and tables to text labels, and position them just right.
Alternatively, you can use the pre-made invoice templates available in most word processors. For instance, you can utilize MS Word invoice templates in five easy steps:
- Open MS Word.
- Click “New” on the left-side menu.
- Type “Invoice” into the search bar and hit enter.
- Select any template you like.
- Edit, brand, and customize the template.
The second method still takes a bit of work, but it’s better than starting with just a cursor. Plus, you can play around with various appliance repair invoice samples.
There’s a lot to consider when creating an appliance repair invoice. We can sum it all up in seven concise invoicing tips:
- Brand and customize your appliance service invoices.
- Ensure each invoice has all the necessary information regarding the bill.
- Make your invoices clear, legible, and easy to understand.
- Provide flexible payment options to make it easier for customers to pay.
- Use an invoice template to save time and money, maintain invoicing consistency, and create professional-looking invoices.
- Date and sign every outgoing invoice.
- Include customer details in every invoice.
Download Our Free Appliance Repair Invoice Template
As a busy appliance repair person, you might not have the time to write invoices from scratch. And generic invoices just won’t give your appliance repair business that professional authenticity. That’s a big problem because invoices are vital, time-sensitive documents.
We have just the solution for you. Our online library has professionally crafted appliance repair invoice templates with different designs for every billing situation. Send your clients customized invoices in mere minutes and get paid sooner.
Download your free invoice template now.
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