Consumers and businesses are used to making and accepting electronic payments, and ACH payments are becoming increasingly popular, because they cut out the middleman of credit card networks. Accepting digital payments brings a long list of benefits to business owners, while clients greatly appreciate the convenience and flexibility, which is why Design Manager facilitates digital payments with its Stripe integration, allowing your clients to “click and pay” when they receive an invoice from you. 

The option to pay by ACH is emerging as a favorite amongst interior design businesses, as it comes with the lowest fees, the fewest risks, and the fastest transaction time. 

We talked to three interior design business leaders to find out why they chose to accept ACH payments and how it has transformed their businesses over the last year.

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Simplicity & Convenience

In 1960, the U.S. Navy created the KISS principle, a mantra for simplicity, the acronym standing for “keep it simple, stupid”. It may not be the most diplomatic language, but it is certainly true that the fewer steps to follow in a process, the fewer opportunities for systems to fail. Bevan Talbott of Bevan & Co. says, 

“Design Manager makes it really seamless to accept payments digitally. The best part of ACH payments is how easy it is for my clients to click and pay and I am immediately notified via email, Design Manager is automatically updated and the money hits my bank directly a few days later.”

While Andrea Carter of Chief Financial Officer at Interioloy Design Co., says, “with so much more being done online, our clients like the ease of use as well.” Offering clients the ability to send secure payments immediately upon receipt of invoice will help your business get paid faster, period.

Faster Payment Cycles

Traditionally, interior designers got paid by check. A designer would send their client an invoice, wait weeks to receive a check in the mail, and then up to another week for a check payment to clear and funds to be available in the designer’s bank account. This created structural lag in every project cycle. With ACH, clients can pay immediately and funds will appear in the designer’s bank account within days, greatly accelerating the pace of a project. Andrea Carter says, “we have been able to dramatically shorten the time from sending a proposal to ordering products because payments often come in just minutes after we email our clients.” 

Linda Shpilner of Robin Gannon Interiors also describes how the faster payment cycles afforded by ACH have made a large impact on their business, saying, 

“Cash flow is king, right? Improving the quote-to-collect cycle was the biggest driver for implementing ACH at Robin Gannon Interiors. The slowdown in moving the U.S. mail [in 2020] and lost mail was the last straw for us. We’re all trying to get our product orders processed faster so any and all suppliers who accept ACH are paid that way now.”

It’s simple: Faster payment is paramount when time is money. 

Seamless Bookkeeping Integration

Another crucial aspect of accepting digital payments through Design Manager is that the program automatically records each payment into your company’s bookkeeping records, eliminating that simple-yet-tedious accounting step. What’s more, designers can choose to absorb transaction fees (for which ACH are the lowest of the digital payment options) or to pass them on to clients, which is also automatically recorded in Design Manager. 

Bevan says, “Whether I choose to pass the fees to my client or I absorb the cost, the minimal ACH charge makes it an easy option to offer.” 

Linda also sees the value in cutting down on data entry, saying, “We’re open to looking at any process improvements that cut time out of the cycle, save us some data entry time in the office and make it more convenient for clients to pay their bills!”

Fall is typically a busy time for interior designers, with clients back from vacation and the accounting burdens of Q4 looming large, so now is the perfect time to connect your DM software with a Stripe Account and start transforming your business!

15 minutes now, automatic payments later. Sign up today!