GRA$$ is a simple and inexpensive billing service for Lawn Care and Landscape professionals. It does all this without your having to use a computer or learn any software.
At the end of the billing period, we produce and mail your monthly bills. The bills look like they came from you. Our name does not appear anywhere on the bill or envelope. A return envelope, that we enclose with the bill, assures your customer's payment is returned to you. We supply the bill stock, and both envelopes. We process, print, fold, insert, apply postage, and take your bills to the post office.
Detailed reports are mailed to you each month that show you what you charged each customer, how much they owe, and for how long, plus much more!
TURF Magazine described GRA$$ "...as a way to make the tedious task of billing and account management easier, faster, and more reliable".
GRA$$ is ideal for small landscapers, who send as few as 20 bills per month, as well as multi-crew landscapers who send thousands of bills per month. There is NO minimum sign-up period, and at about a dollar per bill, it will solve one of the biggest headaches in the Lawn Care industry. It is guaranteed to give you the time to do what you do best.
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Get paid faster
Have your bills go out on-time
Look more professional
Eliminate all your billing paperwork
Save time and effort
The secret to the GRA$$ service is a small hand-held terminal that allows you to record all your charges quickly and easily. You can use the terminal in your truck as you do the work, or at home at the end of the day. You then plug the terminal into a telephone jack and press the send button. All the charges you keyed in are transmitted to our central Data Center.
The Client Server is a new feature of the GRA$$ system that allows users to manage their customer accounts through the Internet. It incudes: viewing account status and billing history, adding new accounts, route management, and many more powerful features. A complete description, including sample screens, will be added to this website soon.
"GRA$$ is terrific. It
saves me a lot of time and effort. No more spending hours on paperwork. It
only takes a few minutes per day. It cut the entire billing process down to
size. The monthly reports give me a financial update on all my accounts and on
my business. My wife loves GRA$$ too. I can now spend more time with my
family."
Anthony Tavella,
"Records of charges,
payments, and balances are right up front and understandable. When I did my
own billing, my bills were always held up since I always leave early in the
morning and get back late. With GRA$$ my bills are always out on time. They
are accurate and reliable. The way I record charges is flexible. I can do it
where ever I want and whenever I have time. If I have a question, I get a fast
answer with a quick phone call."
John Caraccio,
"When I saw
GRA$$ at
the trade show it looked good. Then when I used it I found it to be every bit
as good as they said and more. My bills go out on time, extremely
consistently. Then I get my reports which contain very valuable information
which I could not have obtained without GRA$$. It has professionalized how my
bills look. It has also reduced the turnaround time for me to get paid. No
more multiple copies, envelopes, etc. In addition to the billing, the reports
simplify record keeping so it is easy to track things. When I started with
GRA$$
I knew that I needed a better way to bill my customers, but I had no idea how
valuable the reports were going to be. The reports were like an extra bonus.
The terminal is extremely easy to use and adapt to. It has given me time to do
other things."
Ken Pearsall,
Greenart
Corp.
Between the billing and
the reports, I'm down to just about zero paperwork. I don't have to buy any
supplies like forms and envelopes. The bills and the reports have very
professional layouts. The information provided in the reports is extremely
valuable and well organized."
Anthony Padula,
ACP Landscaping
"GRA$$
saves me a tremendous amount of paperwork. I particularly like the reports
that I receive each month. They show me what charges I have made for each one
of my customers. They also show me which customers have paid and which ones
have not. The professional looking bill and the return envelope make it easy
for my customer to send their payments in."
Vinny Labruzzi,
V & L
Landscaping
It is printed, folded, and inserted into a double window envelope, and mailed. We also enclose a return envelope. The return envelope has a window showing your address. That way payments come directly to you.
Everything on this bill also appears on the reports we send you.
18 Mr and Mrs Jones
26 Mr and Mrs Smith
34 Mr James Adams
42 Mrs Brenda Davis
59 Mr and Mrs Brown
Then you indicate what
services you perform and assign a simple code for each service. Here are a few
examples of what your services and codes might look like:
2 Fertilizer
3 Lime/Fertilizer
4 Weed Control
5 Grub Control
6 Bush Trimming
7 Aeration
8 Topsoil
9 Spring Cleanup
10 Fall Cleanup
11 Snow Removal
Then you
use the GRA$$ terminal to record charges. You can record the charges at the
job site using the terminal in your truck, or you can enter the charges at the
end of the day in your office or at home. The terminal has a calender/clock so
the date is recorded automatically. The terminal has a special button for
"Weekly Maintenance" since it is the most common charge. You simply press the
"Weekly Maintenance" button and the terminal will ask you for the account
number of the customer. The terminal then asks you for the amount of the
charge. You can respond to this in one of three (3) ways:
1) If the amount
of the weekly maintenances varies each week or you want to have direct control
of the amount for this customers weekly maintenance, you simply enter the
amount.
2) If you charge
this customer the same amount for each week's weekly maintenance, and you do
not want to have to enter that same amount each time you are at that customer,
you just press the "ENTER" button and the system will insert the amount that
you set up for that customer at the beginning of the season. (The amount can
be changed if you want).
3) If this
customer is on an "Annual Program" where you want to bill them the same amount
each month, regardless of the number of visits, you would simple press the
"ENTER" button and the bill will show the date, "WEEKLY MAINT" and a zero
amount for each visit. The "MONTHLY FEE" will appear on their bill
automatically. With customers on "Annual Programs" if you do not want the
customers bill to show each visit, you can simply not use the "Weekly
Maintenance" button, and let the system generate the "Monthly Fee".
Other
charges are recorded by pressing the "MISC. CODE" button and then entering the
appropriate code for the service you performed and amount to be charged. At
the end of the day the terminal contains the charges for that day. Then, plug
the terminal into a standard telephone jack in your home or office and press
the "SEND" button, and the terminal will send the charges to
GRA$$ for
processing. You can send charges whenever and where ever you want. The
terminal will continue to store charges until you send them in. After the
charges have been sent, the terminal resets its memory and is ready for the
next set of charges.
When
your customer receives the bill, they tear off the payment stub and insert it,
along with their check, into the return envelope that we send with the bill.
The return envelope has a window that allows your address to show through.
When you receive the payment, you go to the terminal and press the "PAYMENT"
button and indicate the customer number and amount of the check. You do not
have to worry about how much they owe, just how much they paid. We keep track
of the amount due. If the customer still owes you money we will show that on
their next bill as a remaining balance. We will keep billing unpaid amounts
until they are paid.
At the
same time we send your bills out, we send you two reports. One is the Account
Register. It shows complete information about each of your customers. It
shows their previous balance, all their charges, and payments, date of last
payment, total amount due, and any amounts overdue for 30, 60, 90 days and
beyond. The other report is the "TOTALS REPORT". This report gives you all
your totals: number of customers, total amount of charges, total amount of
payments, and opening and closing accounts receivable balances. The report
also shows you what you charged, for the current month and for the year, for
each of the charge codes you use. Samples of these two reports can be
requested, and will be mailed to you, by clicking [Request Information].
The
terminal has many useful functions in addition to the ones that have been
discussed in this document so far. For example, here are some popular
functions:
1) Hourly rate
charges: you can tell the terminal that you performed a particular service by
the hour and tell the terminal the number of hours and the hourly rate, so all
that information will be shown on the customer's bill.
2) Debit and
Credit adjustments: allows you to make accounting adjustments to accounts.
3) Totals: allows
you to see how many transactions (charges or payments) and the total dollar
amount that is in the terminal.
4) Scroll: allows
you to look at all the transactions that you put into the terminal.
5) Change and Void: allows you to make changes or to void out any transaction that was put into the terminal in error.
6) Bill Immediate:
Charges entered using this button on the terminal, will be invoiced within two
days of when the batch is sent. This is ideal for spring and fall cleanups,
special and installation jobs, and snow removal, where you do not want to wait
until your monthly bills are sent.
7) Bridge: This
button allows you to enter charges for work done on an earlier day. It allows
you to “back date” a charge.