If your bills are getting rejected and not paid in a timely manner, it almost always boils down to two things: Poor or lack of communication and knowing how to submit your invoice correctly with the right line items.

In some cases you may never meet the adjuster handling your job in person. If you are lucky, you may talk once or twice on the phone. More often than not in this day and age an e-mail or two may be your only communication besides the invoice you send in at the end of the job.

There is definitely an art to writing a good solid invoice that will hit your bank account fast and get paid in full. The good news is it’s an easy skill set to obtain with the right training.

First you need to be using Xactimate to bill your jobs. It is the most widely used and recognized insurance billing program and it’s what most insurance companies prefer.

That being said, you need to know how to break your invoice down into line items room-by-room. Then you need to know how to attach notes and photos to those line items so that your adjuster understands why and what the charge is for.

Not all jobs are cut and dry and the better skilled you are at re-creating the story of what you had to do to bring the job back to pre-loss condition, the faster you will get paid.

Being able to write a good thorough and detailed scope will not only help you get paid in full, but it will go a long way in getting you paid fast. The last thing an adjuster wants to add to his very busy schedule is a phone call to you to ask a bunch of questions about charges he doesn't understand on your bill.

This alone can move your invoice to the bottom of the pile on their desk, especially if you aren’t available to answer their phone call and they have to leave you a message. Adjusters are very busy and have more than your invoice to worry about, so you need to do everything you can to make it easy for your invoice to get paid on first review - no questions asked.

If you have something unusual on a job that is a bit out of the ordinary, call the adjuster and give them a heads up. Get a prior approval on your plan of action to handle the unique situation, especially if there is a big price tag involved. This could not only help put your invoice on the top of the “getting paid now”stack, but it will also help you build a relationship with the adjuster which is ultimately the big key to getting paid fast and full.