For broadcast business managers, the invoice-to-cash cycle is one of the most stubborn operational challenges in the industry. Despite near-universal adoption of digital tools everywhere else in the business, many stations are still waiting on checks and waiting weeks, sometimes months, for revenue they’ve already earned.
The numbers tell the story.
The media industry average for Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) when checks are the primary payment method is 72 days.
Stations using Marketron PayNow’s electronic payment platform have reduced DSO by up to 32 days, accelerating cash flow and helping organizations gain faster access to revenue they’ve already earned. For a market billing $500,000 per month, that shift can free up more than $500,000 in working capital.
The question isn’t whether electronic payment is better. The question is: how do you actually standardize it across a multi-market organization?
That’s exactly what this program is designed to answer.
The Goal: One Standard, Every Market
The purpose of this rollout plan is to make electronic invoicing and electronic payment the default operating standard. Not a preference, not a goal, and not something markets get to opt into or out of.
The default 6-month targets are straightforward:
- Electronic Invoicing (EI): 90% of invoices delivered electronically
- PayNow merchant payments: No market under 40% of payment volume processed electronically
These aren’t aspirational numbers. They’re achievable within six months when the right structure is in place.
This program includes:
- Clear role definitions for corporate sponsors, market business managers, general managers, and Marketron CSM leads
- A 6-month launch plan with specific actions for each week and month
- Copy-and-paste internal communications ready to send at kickoff
- An operational checklist covering platform setup, advertiser onboarding, and AE training
- A monthly market scorecard so that corporate has consistent, comparable data across all markets
The Four Non-Negotiables
The program runs on four operating principles that remove ambiguity at every level:
1. Default to electronic for every new advertiser from day one. No new advertiser should be set up on check payment. Electronic is the starting point. Anything else is an exception, and exceptions require documentation and approval.
2. No new check accounts without formal approval. This creates a clear standard and a paper trail. It also makes it easy to identify where resistance is coming from so it can be addressed directly.
3. One consistent workflow for invoices, reminders, and payments. Inconsistency breeds drift. When every market follows the same process invoices pushed from the traffic system, payment reminders sent from within the platform, and collections managed through the AE collections tool, results become predictable and scalable.
4. Track and report on a fixed cadence. What doesn’t get measured doesn’t improve. Monthly scorecards reviewed by corporate keep the program visible and enforceable, while giving high-performing markets the recognition they deserve.
The 6-Month Launch Plan at a Glance
Week 1: Baseline and Setup Before anything else, know where you are. Pull EI% and PayNow merchant payment % by market. Identify which markets are leading and which are lagging. Confirm market owners and the escalation path. Schedule training sessions and monthly scorecard reviews.
Week 2: Kickoff and Training The corporate sponsor sends the kickoff communication. Two short training sessions are run (split markets into cohorts to keep sessions focused). Platform setup is completed using the checklist. Markets begin execution with the PayNow Electronic Payment Standards Guide as their leave-behind resource.
Weeks 3–4: Operational Standardization Markets run weekly reviews against the checklist and exception log. Champion markets, those already performing well, begin mentoring the ones behind. This peer-to-peer dynamic is one of the most effective levers in the program.
Months 2–5: Execution and Reinforcement Monthly corporate scorecard reviews keep momentum visible. Targeted advertiser outreach runs in parallel, prioritizing the top check-paying accounts identified in week one.
Month 6: Lock the Cadence Confirm ongoing ownership. Document final standards and exception rules. Archive completed checklists for future onboarding. And recognize the teams that drove the results.
Ready to get started?
Head on in to Week 1 to:
- Confirm baseline EI% and PayNow merchant payment % by market
- Identify champion markets and lagging markets
- Confirm market owners and the escalation path
- Schedule training sessions and monthly scorecard reviews
