How Billow works
The building blocks of Billow, how work moves from lead to payment, the two kinds of project, how to use search, and where to start.
Billow is built around the project. A project is one piece of work for one account, and it holds the invoices you bill for that work and the offer, if you send one.
The building blocks
Item | What it is |
|---|---|
Account | A company you work for |
Contact | A person at an account |
Lead | An opportunity you’re still pursuing |
Project | One piece of work for one account |
Offer | The proposal you send your client for a project |
Invoice | A bill, usually for a project |
Your workspace holds the settings that new documents start from: currency, tax rate, default deposit, bank details and contract terms. See Setting up your workspace.
From lead to payment
Work in Billow follows this path:
You track an opportunity as a lead on the pipeline board.
You create a project, either directly or by converting the lead.
You build an offer on the project and send it to your client.
Your client accepts the offer, signing the contract if it includes one, and the project becomes Active.
Billow drafts the invoices from the offer, and you send them.
Your client pays.
A project can skip the lead, the offer, or both.
Create a project
Go to Projects.
Click New Project.
In the “What kind of project?” dialog, choose Project with offer or Simple project.
Billow opens the offer wizard for a project with an offer, or a short form for a simple project.
Project kinds
Kind | What it is | What your client receives |
|---|---|---|
Project with offer | The full path. You build an offer with deliverables and prices, finish the setup, and send it from the project page when you’re ready. | A link to the offer, where they accept or reject it |
Simple project | A place for invoices for work that doesn’t need a proposal, such as a retainer or an hourly month | Nothing until you send an invoice |
If your client accepts an offer, the project becomes Active and Billow drafts your invoices.
You can add an offer to a simple project later with Turn into offer, as long as the project is Active and has no invoices. Once an offer is attached, it can’t be removed. See Simple projects.
Leads
A lead is an opportunity you haven’t committed to yet. It stays on the pipeline board until you click Convert to Project. Converting creates the project, carries the account and the contact over, and takes the lead off the board. See Turning a lead into a project.
The lead pipeline is available on the Grow and Scale plans. On any plan, you can create projects directly without a lead.
Invoices from an accepted offer
When your client accepts an offer, Billow creates the invoices for the whole engagement as drafts. The deposit percentage on the offer decides how many invoices there are and how much each one is for:
At 50%, you get a deposit invoice and a final invoice.
At 0%, you get a single invoice for the full amount.
Billow sends none of them. The drafts wait in your invoice list until you choose a payment method and send each one yourself.
You set the deposit on the offer before you send it, and it decides the whole billing schedule. Deposits and automatic invoices covers every option.
Search
Search finds your accounts, contacts, projects, leads and invoices. Results appear once you type three characters.
To open search, do one of these:
Press ⌘K on a Mac, or Ctrl+K on Windows.
Press / while you’re not typing in a field.
Click Search in the sidebar.
The same box also does the following:
Creates things, with Add new lead, Start new project, Create new invoice, Add new contact and Add new account. Add new lead needs the Grow or Scale plan.
Goes to any section.
Opens your user and workspace settings.
Switches to another workspace.
First steps
Create your first project.
Invoice it, or build an offer and send it.
