A gym, a members’ club, a co-working space, or an internet reseller sells the same thing every month to the same people. Revenue should be predictable - but only if every member is actually billed and actually pays. In practice someone raises invoices by hand, a few members get missed, and the ones whose payment lapses quietly stop paying until a staff member notices three months later.
Where the money leaks
- Monthly invoices are raised by hand, so members get missed and revenue is lumpy
- A lapsed payment goes unnoticed for months - that’s pure lost revenue
- Members want to pay from their phone, not queue at the desk with cash
- Chasing everyone who’s behind is a manual job that never gets done
Set the plan once, bill it forever
Put each member on a recurring schedule - weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual - with their plan as line items and the right VAT. On each date Zana raises the invoice and, with auto-send on, delivers it by email, SMS, or WhatsApp with a pay link. Generation is transaction-safe, so a retried run can never double-bill a member. Pausing a membership? Pause the schedule and resume it later - no invoice goes out while it’s off.
Collect by M-Pesa, catch the lapses
Members pay by M-Pesa STK push on the link - no desk visit, no cash. When a payment slips, automatic reminders go out at 3, 7, 14, and 30 days overdue, so a lapsed member is nudged the same week, not discovered a quarter later. Part-payments and the odd overpayment are handled - extra sits as credit and applies to next month automatically.
Worked example. A gym with 300 members at KES 3,000/month. On the 1st, Zana raises and sends 300 invoices without anyone lifting a finger. Most pay by STK push within days; the 18 who don’t get reminded automatically as the bill ages. The owner reviews a shrinking list instead of building 300 invoices by hand.
What you’ll need
Recurring billing is on every paid plan from Starter (KES 1,000/month, 150 invoices); a membership base past a few hundred wants Business (KES 6,000/month, unlimited invoices and members). Pro (KES 2,500/month) adds CRM if you want to run offers and win-backs to the same member list. Put one member on a schedule and let the next cycle run itself.