It can be a double-edged sword to exceed expectations in business. Sure, you’re thrilled to make more money or make more customers happy. But if your business processes aren’t set up for that excess, then it can be a challenge to handle it all.
Such was the case for the Winnipeg Sea Bears and their accounts payable system.
When it was announced that the Sea Bears would be the newest franchise in the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) in November 2022, team President Jason Smith says that everyone in the organization was keeping their expectations in check.
“We had done our research and knew that Winnipeg had a very big basketball community, so we were optimistic we would do well,” he says. “But when you start something new like this, you can’t really know how many people will be interested.”
Smith and the team found out quickly enough, however, how hungry fans were for men’s professional basketball in the city.
On May 27, 2023, the Sea Bears played their first game in front of about 7,500 fans, shattering the previous CEBL attendance record by almost 3,000. That first year, the team broke eight of its own attendance records and has continued packing the Canada Life Centre ever since.
Full payment pressure
As exciting as that first season of overperformance was, it put a lot of pressure on the Sea Bears’ accounts payable system, says Smith.
At the outset of the season, the team thought that paying every vendor using a traditional manual cheque system combined with QuickBooks would work. But as attendance soared, all of a sudden there were more invoices to process for everyone from halftime performers to food vendors.
“It became very labour-intensive,” says Smith. “You’d have to go through each invoice, make sure it’s actually a payable and that it’s approved. And then from that, someone had to create a cheque, two people had to sign the cheque, and then you had to mail it.”
By about halfway through that first season, Smith was on the lookout for an alternative payment system that could move as fast as the team was. He soon found it in Telpay.
Rebounding for growth
Smith says that Telpay was an instant game-changer for the team.
“Honestly, I like everything about what Telpay does for us,” he says. “It’s quicker, it’s easier, it’s safer for us to use, it integrates really well with QuickBooks and it allows us to work on our own timeline.”
The biggest benefit of using Telpay is that it removes several layers of administration, says Smith.
Now, instead of all of those manual steps, the Sea Bears’ accountant simply enters the invoices into Telpay, and then Smith gets an email saying there are payments to be approved. Once he approves them, the e-payments go out. No printing cheques, no worrying about mail.
That streamlining of the payment process allows the office team to focus on growing the business even more, says Smith.
“We’re a small business with a limited number of people. Every employee’s hour is valuable to us,” he says. “So when we can shave hours off of the accounting process while also ensuring that we’re paying things timely and correctly, we can use the hours in our day more effectively in helping to grow the business. Telpay helps us do that.”
Find out how Telpay can be a slam dunk for your payment process by contacting our Sales Team here or call 1-800-665-0302.