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| Customers often feel the vendor’s right hand does not know what the left hand is doing. Responsiveness to customer inquiries and order entry questions is improved by the availability of sales call notes, special pricing commitments, current account communications and awareness of client expectations. | ||
| Situation On Monday, a large customer calls to place an order for 250,000 units. The customer service representative quotes a unit price of $1.00, using standard price tables, but the customer states the sales representative promised 90 cents per unit if the order was placed by today. The CSR tries to contact the sales rep, but she is on vacation that week, and the sales manager is out of the country. The customer says, “OK, but check back next Monday”, because they will need a rush on the first shipment because of this order confirmation delay. The order is entered, placed on hold, but a credit limit warning appears. The CSR uses a post-it note as a reminder to call the sales rep on Monday, and sends an email to the rep as well. The following Monday the CSR is out sick, and returns on Wednesday. The reminder is there to be acted on, but there are also messages from an upset customer and the sales rep wanting to know what is going on. The company now appears unresponsive to a large order. The customer comments: “If a quarter million dollar order doesn’t get your attention, what will?” They have to act fast, to save face and revenues, and deal with an uncomfortable situation. The doubtful credit is approved because it would be embarrassing to chase overdue amounts at this time. The shop floor schedule is disrupted to accommodate the now very urgent and expedited order, impacting the delivery dates of other clients. Summary: Dissatisfied customer; late deliveries; poor cash flow; bad debt exposure; high days outstanding. With Final Link When finding the sales person is unavailable, the CSR accesses the Final Link activity workbench. She enters an activity that includes customer and order numbers, documents the calls and distributes the activity to the materials manager, credit manager, sales rep, as well as to herself: 1. Credit manager needs to approve the order and credit limit overrun. 2. Warns manufacturing that a large order may have to be rushed. 3. The sales rep to respond on the pricing. Credit control is aware of the late payments and reviews the AR inquiry. The customer is immediately informed that the credit limit cannot be increased, and overdue must be paid before this order is confirmed, regardless of the pricing issues. The customer promises to expedite a check. The Final Link activity workbench is accessed and an activity (message) created to inform both sales and order entry of the promise to expedite a check. The materials manager responds to the CSR’s activity with a schedule that is sent to the sales rep. On her return on Monday, the sales rep accesses her Final Link ™ inbox, and can see details of the actions to date, including new messages that a check has been received and credit approved. The sales rep uses Final Link to notify order entry that the 90 cent price is good and they can now update the customer. Summary: Improved customer satisfaction and cash flow; retained sale; lower bad debt and days outstanding. |
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