Asking your suppliers to change their billing processes and start sending you e-invoices isn’t usually an effective tactic. But there are certain things you can do to help them move in that direction.

Suppliers can turn down a request by simply stating: Why should we switch to e-invoicing when today’s companies still receive the lion’s share of their bills on paper.

In fact, 75% of companies said the vast majority of the bills their A/P department receives are on paper, according a recent poll by the Accounts Payable Network.

So what can you do? Try easing your suppliers into e-invoicing. Example: ask them to PDF invoices to your A/P department. After paper, PDFs are the top way in which companies receive their bills.

There are a slew of free programs out there that make it easier for suppliers to convert invoices into PDFs, and some of these programs can do the entire conversion in a single click.

Key: Have a list of programs ready to show your suppliers when you make your ploy for receiving invoices via a PDF-format.

Tags: A/P department, Accounts Payable Network, E-invoiceing, PDF invoices, Suppliers