How OTM Streamlined Billing with Quickbooks Advanced and Commercial Credit Cards

At the start of 2023, OTM (yes, OUR team) faced several interconnected operational challenges. Our monthly billing process was cumbersome, taking three full days to complete, with no scalable solution in sight. The misalignment between proposal language and invoices required extensive manual adjustments. Additionally, using a single credit card for all client expenses led to complex reconciliations and limitations on setting up separate digital ad accounts. We needed a transformative solution to streamline our billing and expense processes.

A discussion with our bank about a commercial card program that allowed individual card numbers for each client sparked a series of initiatives. Throughout 2023 and into 2024, our Service Delivery Team, in collaboration with the broader OTM team, overhauled our billing processes, leveraging QuickBooks Advanced and customizing financial tools to achieve significant efficiencies.

Two women are sitting at a conference table working on laptops. They are smiling and engaged in conversation. A large screen displays a flowchart, and the shelves behind them hold plants and books. The room has a large window bringing in natural light.

Our Approach



Upgraded to QuickBooks Advanced

This enhanced our importing capabilities and custom reporting. We also developed and tested import templates in a sandbox environment to ensure smooth integration.



Standardized Our Processes

We established a clear method for issuing client expense credit cards, automating the inclusion of proposal language in invoices, and implementing quarterly credit card audits.

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Partnered with Our Bank

Partnering with our bank, we set up a commercial card account, customized the Visa Spend Clarity Enterprise platform, and issued individual client expense cards. We also created a process for authenticating ad accounts with clients.

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Transitioned from Lump Sum to Itemized Invoicing

This improved efficiency, allowing us to auto-populate invoices with standardized forms and advanced reporting, ensuring consistency and accuracy.

RESULTS

We then brought these new processes to life through a comprehensive overhaul of our billing system, transforming our operational efficiency. This strategic update led to a 33.70% decrease in billing time and annual labor savings of $5,733.45.

Additionally, we achieved a 47.83% decrease in time spent reconciling expenses in 2023 and a 67.57% reduction from 2022 to 2023. The switch to individual client expense cards reduced reconciliation time from 6.65 hours to 3.3 hours per month, highlighting the significant improvements in our financial management.

Annual labor savings

Decrease in total billing time

Decrease in time reconciling expenses in 2023

Decrease in time reconciling expenses from 2022-2023

Back to Our Work

Brittany Mathisen

2023-09-27

OTM has been a wonderful marketing partner for the last four years. We have shifted marketing plans over time and they are very open and explained all the details as we moved forward with new plans. They have done everything from help design and update offices, managed social media, planning marketing events, and many more things. The Hear for Holidays Event that we do each year is one of my favorite events that we work on together. Rachel and the whole OTM team have brought my marketing vision to life and I love everything they have done for my business. I look forward to what the future holds as we continue to work together.

Yvonne Myers

2023-07-30

I worked with Old Town Media (OTM) on a quick grant project that had a 6-week timeline. They were very thoughtful about whether they could meet the grant expectations and needs before accepting the work. The team at OTM then completed extensive research and facilitated focus groups to ensure the product they created met the needs of the end-users. They met all of the grant deadlines and far exceeded our expectations of the portal they created for us! I would not hesitate to use their services again and highly recommend them to others looking for a professional, high quality, and FUN team to work with.

Julie Dokoupil

2023-07-18

OTM is a locally owned firm that I have worked with for over 13 years. They are an amazing team of people who know and understand current marketing technology and strategies. My husband and I are starting a new business and they have helped us out even with small details to get our business going.

TunDesign

2023-06-20

I have seen a significant increase in community engagement which has helped bolster our brand presence, exceeding the expectations of the entire team. Carrie and her team provides consistent communication through slack and emails which has led to an effective and trusted partnership. Truly appreciate how hard-working, agile, and driven everyone on the team is. Thanks again for eveything your team has done for our company.

David Haase

2023-06-07

OTM has done a fantastic job bringing the Fort Collins Peach Festival back to the public! OTM is dealing with several volunteers on a committee and keeping everyone informed, best in business advice and a platform that will serve us for years. We didn't know what we needed and were presented with choices and educated about each before implementation. Kerrie and Brianna have done great work for us! Dave Haase Committee Chair Fort Collins Peach Festival

Dana Sednek

2023-03-15

Using their Path to Growth Model, OTM not only gave me a path forward, but they helped me clarify my strategy, direction, and actions for how to set and launch my business. I was able to launch quickly and I see the flywheel ahead that is necessary to accelerate customer intake and revenue building. Thrilled with the outcome!!!

Liza Adams

2023-01-13

As the Head of Marketing at Encompass Technologies, I considered Old Town Media an extension of our marketing team. OTM worked closely with us on rebranding and repositioning, multiple industry-first product launches, key industry events, and integrated demand generation campaigns while we grew our marketing team and acquired new companies. With the help of OTM, we grew our pipeline and bested industry benchmarks for Software as a Service (SaaS) sales and marketing efficiency metrics. We came to rely on OTM for tactical execution to augment our team but where they added the most value was in our rebranding strategy and market positioning efforts. OTM played an integral role in conducting research and deeply understanding our market dynamics, ideal customer profile, customer challenges, competitive landscape, products and innovation, key differentiators, vision, and mission. This was no easy feat with a highly complex ecosystem, multiple segments, wide variety of audiences, and a broad array of products. Armed with market insights, OTM helped us develop a compelling brand, an inspirational story reflecting our vision and strategy, a unique and defensible market position, and messaging that was relevant to our target audiences. I appreciated that the team was respectful and empathetic, intently curious, insightful with their observations and recommendations, and candid with their feedback. OTM set realistic expectations about deliverables/scope, level of effort, roles, timeline, and cost. The team was responsive, highly collaborative, and open to suggestions. OTM plugged our expertise and resource gaps which allowed us to break the compromise between doing good work and doing it quickly. On top of that, they were fun to work with. OTM was truly a partner of the business.

Eric Dengler

2023-01-11

Great team! Small company service. Big firm power and expertise.

zach fulton

2023-01-06

Simply put, OTM is a well oiled machine! Thanks for all you do