Do you really need to print that sales invoice?

There have been reports showing that the ink in an inkjet printer is dearer per centilitre than a bottle of Dom Perignon vintage champagne. So you might ask yourself, “Do I need to print documents for my business?” and think “I don’t need bottles of vintage champagne”. However using Xero and the internet, you could reduce your paper output and save significant amounts of money for your business, allowing you to possibly buy those bottles of vintage champagne.

Current practice

So you have approved your customers’ sales invoice in Xero, pressed print and the printer is happily churning out the document. You have to then fold it, place it in an envelope, add postage and hand it over to The Royal Mail for delivery. Your customer may receive it tomorrow, or the next day or maybe never (the old excuse of “I never received your invoice” – a delaying tactic used to postpone payment). All of this uses resources, time and effort that possibly could be better utilised.

Forward thinking

Rather than pressing print, why not email the document to your client.When you have approved your invoice in Xero you will be presented on the screen with the completed invoice showing as awaiting payment. Just above your invoice details on the right hand side of the document there are five options for you to choose from, these can be seen below.

Using the first of these you can preview the document in Xero thus allowing you to see what the invoice will look like on a computer screen or a mobile phone screen. The second option is the one that we are most interested in, this is the email option. Press this and up will pop a window in Xero allowing you to enter the email address, if not already set up in Xero, where you want the invoice to be sent.

You can also email yourself a copy of the document if you desire. Gone are the days of having to wait for the postman to deliver your invoices, Xero and email will do it instantly! Of course if you want to print the document and send it via snail-mail then the third option is for you. We will be discussing the other two options in a later blog, for now it’s enough to think just maybe you could save on ink, paper and time by emailing that invoice rather than printing it.

So there we have one way of possibly saving your business time and money, thus allowing you possibly to buy a bottle of vintage chamagne.

If you have any questions regarding the above or would like to discuss this or any other matter regarding Xero please contact us at Lewis Brownlee.