B2B eCommerce Blog

Moving to an online ordering system may be the next essential step for your business to thrive and grow. Back office operations include accounting, finance, inventory, and shipping – the things that keep your business running. Customers don’t care how your back office works, just what it does. They want fast, mistake free order management. Back office processes don’t make your business money, but they drain money from the front office if not done efficiently. An online ordering system brings that efficiency to you.

Providing the proper tools to your sales reps enables them to better do their job. It is a statement that you care about your products and your brand, and that you want the sales team to be able to meet customer demands. Sales rep software, is just such a tool.

The way you interact with your customers will determine whether you will get repeat business and referrals. Good customer service leads to customer satisfaction and loyalty. One way to provide that customer service is by having a customer order management solution in place. The following are some steps you can take right away to improve your customer order management services.

For many small and mid-size businesses, the QuickBooks order management tools can handle the job. It’s when your business starts to grow and you get more customers that you may begin to see some problems. Increased business leads to more record keeping and manual data entry. This leads to possible mistakes from entering and re-entering orders and other data. There may be duplication and confusion between the front office and back office. To handle the increased manual workload, there may be the need for payroll expansion. If you don’t stay on top of things, it could also lead to customer service issues, which could stop your business growth in a hurry.

When you have grown beyond manually entering data, an order management system is the next step.  An order management system is software used for order entry and processing, and it automates much of the manual work. Some management systems have separate portals, or online interfaces, for the sales department.  Using a sales portal, sales representatives have a way to access customer accounts and inventory and place orders without having to call in to the office.

When hiring outside sales reps for your wholesale business you want to ensure they are going to give your product line the utmost attention with customers.  There’s a lot of information on both products and customers to keep organized.  They also have to work closely with your inside staff to get orders processed and shipped and customer accounts managed.  Giving them the tools they need to stay informed and organized can increase productivity.  With sales rep software you can give your reps the opportunity to shine. 

More business means more orders. More orders means more invoices. That means more forms, more data entry, and more transferring of information between different departments. It's easy for a form or piece of information to get lost in the shuffle.

If you are a small or medium sized business owner, the growth of your company is somewhat of a catch-22. Growth increases productivity and potential profit, but if you aren’t equipped to handle the growth, it could have the exact opposite effect on your business.  An order management system is software that automates order entry and processing, and could be the solution to handling your increased workload.

Have you considered implementing an online order management system for staff, sales reps and customers?  Are you aware of all the ways it will improve your processes? With a smart system, you will greatly reduce order entry and the time spent responding to routine customer service inquiries;  increasing efficiency, reducing errors, and eliminating duplicated work.

An online order system doesn’t just benefit you, though. It also benefits your customers. The system will give them a quick and convenient way to place orders without having to call or email your staff, or fill out old-fashioned Excel or Word order forms. They'll have instant, online updates on the status of their orders, and they’ll have greater confidence that their orders will arrive on-time and with the correct items. 

Businesses who implement an order management system often say that their customers experience a more efficient and convenient ordering process. That increases customer satisfaction and loyalty and also makes your company look more professional. By implementing an online system, you’re improving your customers' businesses as well as your own.