Setting Up Phone Cost Rebilling for Your Clients

Understanding Phone Cost Rebilling

Phone cost rebilling is a feature that allows your agency to automatically charge your clients for their phone system usage within the CRM. This automates the billing process, saving time, reducing manual errors, and providing a potential revenue stream for your agency by applying a markup to the base costs.

Prerequisites

Before you can set up phone rebilling, ensure the following are in place:

• Your agency's main account must have a connected Stripe account.
• Your client's sub-account must be using the CRM's integrated phone service (referred to internally as LC Phone). Rebilling is not available for sub-accounts using a direct Twilio integration.
• The client's sub-account must have at least one user with the "Account Admin" role to manage their payment method.

Availability by Plan

• Agency Pro Plan: You can rebill phone costs with an added markup.
• Agency Freelancer/Unlimited Plan: You can rebill phone costs at the base rate without markup. Clients on this plan still benefit from the integrated phone service's typically lower rates compared to direct providers.

Checking Sub-Account Rebilling Status

To see which of your client accounts are eligible for or currently using phone rebilling:

1. Go to your agency-level settings.
2. Navigate to the Phone Integration section.
3. Review the list of sub-accounts. Their status will be indicated as one of the following:
   • Phone rebilling enabled: Costs are currently being rebilled to this client.
   • Phone rebilling can be enabled: The account is eligible. You need to enable it from the client management page.
   • Phone rebilling disabled: The account is not using the required integrated phone service.

Enabling Phone Rebilling for a Client

1. Navigate to your agency sidebar and select Sub-Accounts.
2. Find and click on the specific client account you wish to manage.
3. Scroll down to the section labeled Phone System Resell Settings.
4. Enable the toggle to turn on phone rebilling.
5. A prompt will appear asking how you want your client to add their payment method. You have two options:
   • Send them a secure link to enter their card details.
   • If they are already a customer in your connected Stripe account, you can select "I already have this customer in Stripe" and search for them by name, email, or Stripe ID.

Important: The payment method added must belong to your client, not your agency. Your client can add their card by going to their sub-account level settings, then to the Company Billing page.

Setting a Markup (Pro Plan Only)

If you are on the Pro Plan, you can set a markup multiplier on the base phone costs. A default multiplier is often pre-set to help cover transaction fees from payment processors.

How the Rebilling Process Works

The flow is straightforward:

1. Your Agency is Billed: The CRM charges your agency's main account for the phone usage incurred by all your sub-accounts.
2. Your Client is Billed: Your connected Stripe account automatically charges your client's saved payment method for their portion of the usage, plus any applicable markup you've set.

Monitoring Usage and Charges

Agency-Level View

To review your agency's overall phone usage and costs:

1. Go to your agency-level settings.
2. Navigate to Billing.
3. In the credits section, click See Details to analyze your spending.

Client-Level View

Your clients can view their own usage and charges by:

1. Logging into their sub-account.
2. Going to their account-level settings.
3. Navigating to the Company Billing page.
4. Clicking See Details in the credits section.