Proposals and payments
Knowing who paid without asking in the team chat
What has to happen when a payment comes in so that sales, the finance team and the client themselves know which invoice is settled.
To know right away who paid and for which invoice, the payment has to be recorded in the same system that holds the client and their invoices. In AgentticCRM, when someone records a payment, the invoices it settles recalculate their balance in the same operation, the payment received shows up among the billing and collection notices, and the client sees in their portal that you got their money. The bank does not tell the CRM: everything starts when a person, or their connected ChatGPT or Claude, enters the payment.
Every service business knows this message in the team group chat: "Does anyone know if Ribera Construction paid yet?" The person in finance opens the banking app, finds a transfer with a half-written reference and replies "yes, but I think only one of the two invoices". Meanwhile, the account lead had already sent a payment reminder that morning. Nobody did anything wrong. The answer simply was not anywhere the team could look it up.
Why the question ends up in the chat
The money lands in the bank and the invoice lives somewhere else. If the payment is not entered next to the invoice, the only person who knows it arrived is the one watching the bank, and the rest of the team depends on asking them. The question comes back every time someone is about to call the client, issue another invoice or approve more work.
The chat does not keep the answer well either. A week later nobody remembers which conversation said the client paid, how much they paid or against which invoice. You need a record that answers by itself, to whoever looks.
What to enter when a payment comes in
The Payments screen records the money that arrived: the client, the amount, the date you received it, the method and the reference of the receipt or transfer. You can record it even before you know how to split it. There are two paths, depending on what you already know:
- From the invoice, when the client paid one specific invoice. It asks for amount, method and date, and the payment is applied.
- From the Payments screen, when a single transfer covers several invoices. There you add the reference and an internal note for your team, split the amount invoice by invoice and, if you want, leave part of it unapplied to decide later.
If the client paid too much, the difference stays as credit in their favor and is offered to you the next time you open one of their invoices. If they paid only part, the invoice becomes partly paid and keeps the remaining balance.
Who finds out when you record the payment
With the payment recorded, every invoice it touches recalculates its balance and status within the same operation, and nobody types the paid amount by hand.
On your team's side, payment received is one of the billing and collection notices in Communications and notifications, alongside invoice sent and invoice overdue. Notices appear in the bell, with a count of the ones you have not opened, and clicking one opens the exact record it is about. The activity log also keeps recorded payments, with who entered them and when.
On the client's side, the payment reaches them as a notice in the bell of their portal as soon as it is recorded, and on each invoice they see the date, method and amount of what you entered, plus their credit when there is one. If you record the payment from the invoice, an acknowledgment email also goes out with the invoice attached, from your billing address. The internal note you wrote for your team never leaves your side.
Answering "who paid?" without opening the bank
With payments entered, the question is answered in the Payments list: payments, credit notes and applied credits, with search, filters by client and by date, and a spreadsheet download. The client record shows their credit and what they still owe.
If you connected ChatGPT or Claude, you can ask it whether what a client paid matches what they were invoiced. Either one can also record a payment against an invoice, with its method and reference, and that change is recorded like any other.
Mistakes are corrected in plain sight. A payment is never edited or deleted: it is refunded, voided or moved to the right invoice, and each correction stays linked to the original entry with its reason, its date and the name of the person who made it.
A short routine for the finance team
What makes the answer available is the habit of recording on time:
- Enter each payment the same day you see it in the bank, with the transfer reference.
- If one transfer covers several invoices, split it right away and put in the internal note whatever your team should know.
- Once a week, review the credits in clients' favor and any unapplied amounts.
With that, the chat is left for what really needs a conversation, such as a client asking for a payment plan. If you want to see how payments slip away when the invoice lives in another program, we cover it in unpaid invoices: why they get lost outside the CRM. And if your company works on technical projects, a day with a CRM in an engineering firm shows where collection fits into the working day.
Frequently asked questions
Does AgentticCRM detect the transfers that reach my bank by itself?
No. It does not connect to your bank or do bank reconciliation; that stays with your accountant. The balance goes down when your team records the payment. If you connect your own payment page, your client reaches it from their portal with the amount and reference already filled in, and the balance goes down when your team confirms the money arrived.
Does my client find out when I record their payment?
Yes. They see the notice in their portal as soon as it is recorded, and if you record it from the invoice they also get an acknowledgment email with the invoice attached.
What if I recorded the payment on the wrong invoice?
You move it to the right invoice without undoing it or typing it again. The move stays linked to the original payment.