To celebrate National Ice Cream Month, we caught up with Chris and Trevor from Twin Cousins Inc. – distributors of Dippin’ Dots Ice Cream, and power-users of InvoiceASAP – to talk business, mobile invoicing and of course, ice cream…
Everything is better with ice cream, right?
And now that summer has finally hit, it seems thoroughly appropriate to indulge in it on a daily basis… At least.
If you didn’t already know, July is National Ice Cream Month, and in the spirit of the occasion we thought it only right to draw the spotlight on the businesses who are working hard to bring us this wonderful frozen goodness!
Here’s what we learned:
So guys, tell us more about your business…
Trevor: Over 20 years ago, it was my cousins, Gene and Lainie, who started the franchise in San Diego. Then, ten years later Chris and I took over the day-to-day operations and we’ve been managing the franchise ever since.
How big is the operation?
Chris: Over the past ten years we have grown to become one of the largest wholesale distributors of Dippin’ Dots Ice Cream on the West Coast, serving all of Southern California. We have 4 employees, and warehouses in San Diego and Los Angeles.
So, who are your customers?
Chris: We service hundreds of customers each month at all kinds of retail locations including hotels, skating rinks, cafes, piers, convenience stores, ski resorts, lakes, gas stations, sports complexes, malls, and much more…
Wow, that’s a lot of ice cream!
Trevor: We also do catering for all occasions and fundraisers throughout the year for all kinds of events, schools, organizations, etc.
Trevor Spence and Chris Gilliam, bringing Dippin’ Dots Ice Cream to the whole of Southern California.
Business is booming! You must be generating a ton of invoices. What made you decide to search for a mobile invoicing solution?
Chris: In a single month we could generate upwards of 300 invoices – this means we would have 300 payments to collect and it became difficult to track invoices and payments in real time. Collecting payment is the most important part of our business – we need good cash flow to operate. When we deliver products we don’t always collect payment right away. Payment can take anywhere from the same day to 90 days to receive.
It sounds like you had your work cut out!
Chris: Yes! We never knew we would become such great bill collectors!
What made you decide to choose InvoiceASAP specifically?
Chris: We were (and still are) using Quickbooks Online for our accounting software. But with so many invoices each month, we needed something in real time that we could access and process from an iPhone, and also print invoices. Quickbooks couldn’t do all of this. We then discovered InvoiceASAP.
How has InvoiceASAP helped you manage your business?
Trevor: InvoiceASAP allows us to process new invoices and access previous ones stored in the cloud instantly. We can show the customer exactly how much they owe and provide them with a copy of their invoice immediately printed on our Zebra IMZ320 Bluetooth mobile printer. We also now have the ability to capture signatures and photos of payments. Finally, the best part is it all syncs with Quickbooks Online.
What is the thing you like most about InvoiceASAP?
Chris: I especially like using the Zebra printer. I no longer have to hand write invoices and all my invoices are identical looking, much more professional.
And finally, the golden question: What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?
Chris: Cookies n’ cream is by far my favorite flavor.
Trevor: Agreed!
Thank you Chris and Trevor!
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Would you like your business to be featured on the InvoiceASAP blog? We’re always looking for great customer stories! Get in touch with us at support@invoiceasap.com to learn more.