Sage and EBP

How do you send payment reminders from Sage 100 or EBP?

To send payment reminders from Sage 100 or EBP, connect the software to Muzau. A Muzau agent reads the overdue invoices and writes each customer an email from your connected mailbox, rather than a form letter: it cites the reference, the amount and the due date, asks for the payment date and offers to resend the invoice. It stops as soon as the invoice is paid in the software or the customer replies. You can approve each reminder before it goes out.

Why reminders pulled from accounting software go unanswered

Sage 100 or EBP knows which invoices are past their due date. What comes out of it, most often, is a form reminder letter: the same template for every customer, an amount, a reminder level. It reaches the customer as one more notice among the notifications, and nobody feels bound to answer it.

The rest takes time: checking that no payment has arrived in the meantime, writing to the person who pays, keeping up the second reminder without damaging the relationship. Your team keeps the relationship and the decision to go further; the agent takes on writing the reminders and tracking them, alongside it.

How the agent goes about it

Input

The overdue invoices from Sage 100 or EBP, connected to Muzau

It does

Writes each customer an email that cites their invoice, then watches for their reply

It delivers

Reminders a notch firmer each time, which stop at payment or at a reply

Sage 100 or EBP connects to Muzau so it can read the invoices

Sage, including Sage 100, and EBP connect in Muzau's tools, like Cegid, following the model of reminders with Pennylane. The agent reads what the reminder needs: each invoice's reference, its amount, its due date and its payment status. Nothing more: it posts no accounting entry and does no matching of payments. You create the agent in the Workshop, in your own words: remind once the due date has passed, or a few days before, up to six reminders on the days you choose.

An email written for each customer, not a form letter

Each email cites the reference, the amount from the software, never calculated, and the due date, and asks for the payment date. It writes briefly, without blame, and gets firmer from the second reminder, without threats. The email goes out from the business's mailbox when one is connected, Gmail, Outlook or another mailbox, otherwise from the agent's address. The customer replies to it like any other email.

The reminders stop when the invoice is paid in Sage or EBP

As soon as the invoice is paid in the software, the agent sees it and stops chasing it. It also stops when the customer replies, even from another address in the same thread, or when a team member writes to them from the connected mailbox; an out-of-office message does not count. A customer who replies STOP, or asks not to be contacted any more, is no longer chased by any of the business's agents.

Every invoice reminder can be read before it goes out

In Management, you read each planned reminder in advance, exactly as it will go out. You have it rewritten with an instruction, save your own text, move it to another day the agent runs, or cancel the next one, which stops the follow-up for that customer. On the Autonomy page, you decide whether reminders wait for your go-ahead. They go out Monday to Friday at 9 a.m. by default, never more than one scheduled message per 24 hours to the same person, and a large stock of unpaid invoices comes in batches: 10 new customers at most per 24 hours.

Before sending reminders from Sage 100 or EBP: five checks

With or without an agent, a reminder pulled from accounting software is only right if the software is up to date. Before each round of reminders:

• Enter and match the payments received. A transfer that has arrived but is not matched leaves the invoice open, and a customer who has paid gets a reminder.
• Start from the due date, not the invoice date: depending on your payment terms, the gap can be weeks.
• Check the email address on the customer record. The reminder should go to the person who pays, often accounting, not your usual contact.
• Set aside invoices in dispute or waiting for a credit note: a disagreement is not chased like an oversight. See how to chase a customer who disputes their invoice.
• Keep a single channel per invoice. If the software's reminder letter goes out too, the customer receives two reminders that do not say the same thing, and no longer knows which to answer.

The software's form letter keeps one use: a letter, when emails have got nowhere and your team decides what comes next. Until then, an email addressed to one person, asking a single question, calls for an answer. For the wording of the second and third reminders, see the tone of an invoice reminder.

What it does not do

• It posts no entry in Sage or EBP: it reads the invoices and their payment status, without matching a payment or changing a record.
• It cannot see a payment that nobody has entered in the software yet: the invoice stays open and the reminder goes out, unless you cancel it.
• It sends no formal notice or late-payment penalty, and gives no legal advice: it sticks to friendly reminders.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a Sage or EBP reminder letter and a reminder email?

A form reminder letter follows the same template for every customer. A Muzau agent writes one email per customer, from your connected mailbox, which cites their invoice and asks for a payment date, then follows the reply: it stops when the customer replies or the invoice is paid in the software.

Do you need to export your invoices from Sage or EBP to a spreadsheet?

No: when Sage or EBP is connected to Muzau, the agent reads the invoices in the software. An export remains possible. A Google Sheet is reread before each run of the agent, whereas an uploaded CSV or Excel file does not update by itself and has to be uploaded again.

Does a customer who has just paid still get a reminder?

Not if the payment is entered in Sage or EBP before the agent runs: it sees the invoice as paid and stops chasing it. A payment not yet entered is not seen; in that case, cancel the next reminder in Management, which stops the follow-up for that customer.

Can you chase all late-paying customers in Sage or EBP at once?

Yes: a Muzau agent reads all the overdue invoices in Sage or EBP, but their reminders do not all start on the same day. At most 10 new customers enter the reminders per 24 hours, and each receives their own email, which cites their invoice.

Does the customer know the reminder was prepared by an AI?

Yes, by default. Below the signature of each email, Muzau adds in small print: “This message was prepared by the AI assistant of [your business].” You can reword or remove this line; informing the customer is then your responsibility.