Case study How Cannonball Creative achieved a net benefit of 3%¹ with B2B card acceptance

From acceptance myths to a profitable reality

U.S.-based supplier Cannonball Creative delivers creative solutions for enterprise marketers who are making an impact on their bottom line. With a global, Fortune 100 customer base, Cannonball Creative processes millions of dollars in payments quarterly. But due to the project-based nature of the industry, Cannonball Creative’s cash flow is highly variable, and cash flow management was a costly part of Cannonball Creative’s growing business. Over the years, Cannonball Creative has tried many solutions to their cash flow challenges, but now they know they can expect more from commercial card payments.

Challenge

High transaction fees and processing friction can feel like obstacles to commercial card acceptance. Cannonball Creative’s existing web-based POS solution charged 3-4% fees for standard transactions, all of which had to be keyed in manually per invoice. In addition, Cannonball Creative’s off-the-shelf accounting tools catered to small and medium businesses, which caused challenges as they grew and started receiving larger payments.

To capitalize on the benefits of receiving significantly faster payments through virtual cards, Cannonball Creative needed a true B2B payment processing solution that would qualify for lower commercial transaction fees and remove the extra friction of manually keying in virtual card numbers.

Solution

Enabling B2B card transactions with PayNation and Visa. Cannonball Creative worked with Visa and its partner PayNation, a payment automation company and acquiring entity, to enable friction-free and cost-effective B2B virtual card transactions. PayNation helped Cannonball Creative reduce their interchange rate by qualifying for level three credit card processing for their qualifying commercial transactions. In addition, Visa and PayNation were able to set up Cannonball Creative with Visa AR Manager to completely automate their transactions, further streamlining their accounts receivable (AR) process and saving Cannonball Creative on operating costs. With PayNation’s strong customer service, onboarding was quick, and Cannonball Creative was receiving fully automated virtual card transactions within two weeks.¹

Benefits of B2B card acceptance for Cannonball Creative

300 BPS Total net benefit including sales lift, operational efficiencies, and costs¹

89 % reduction in Days Sales Outstanding (DSO)¹

80 % reduction in manual AR processes¹

Results

Card acceptance can help streamline operations and unlock growth. Accepting cards for B2B transactions led to a significant improvement in operations and cash flow acceleration — as well as a lift in revenue. Cannonball Creative achieved a net benefit of 300 BPS and lowered Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) by 89% — from a 30-day average to less than a 10-day average.¹

The switch reduced operating and capital expenses by freeing up cash flow and boosted revenue by enabling the agency to serve new clients who prefer to pay by card. In addition, Cannonball Creative eliminated the need for manual invoice detail entry during their invoice reconciliation processes, reducing AR effort by 80%.¹

“Cash flow is everything. Getting paid faster through commercial cards has been a game changer — it’s how we’re funding growth instead of financing growth. It has given us more revenue and greater efficiency, and we’ve also been able to take on new clients who prefer to pay by card.”

— Connor Stock, Managing Partner, Cannonball Creative

About Cannonball Creative

Cannonball Creative partners with marketers who have an innate need to push boundaries and make creative solutions that have a real impact on their business.