B2B Info Center

Transitioning to an online ordering system could be a vital step for your wholesale business to thrive and grow. Back office operations involve essential functions such as accounting, finance, inventory management, and shipping — all of which are crucial for keeping your business running smoothly. Customers are primarily concerned with the outcomes of these processes; they want fast and accurate order management. While back office processes themselves do not generate profit, inefficiencies in these areas can lead to unnecessary costs that impact the front office. Implementing an online ordering system enhances efficiency and helps streamline these operations.

For many small and mid-sized wholesale businesses, QuickBooks' order management tools can effectively meet their needs. However, as your business grows and you gain more customers, you may start to encounter challenges. Increased business activity results in more record-keeping and manual data entry, which can lead to errors from repeatedly entering orders and other data. This may cause duplication and confusion between the front office and back office operations. To manage the increased manual workload, you might need to expand your payroll. If you do not stay organized, this could also result in customer service issues, which can hinder your business growth significantly.

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

Here are five signs that indicate an order management system is a wise investment for you:

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.

For small and medium-sized businesses, QuickBooks is the go-to accounting software. For a manufacturer, wholesaler, or distributor, QuickBooks doesn’t entirely cover all your needs when you have customers, sales reps, and inside staff who need to place and manage orders and access customer and product information. While you want to limit access to QuickBooks to your back office, adding order management software lets you easily share information with everyone.

Here are ten tips on what to look for when choosing QuickBooks-integrated order management software. 

Navigating a complex order process is likely a familiar challenge for a manufacturer, wholesaler, or distributor. Each step can be riddled with potential obstacles, from receiving customer orders—ideally error-free—to entering them into your accounting system, dispatching them to the warehouse, and ensuring timely shipping. You can streamline these processes by leveraging order entry software, enhancing your business efficiency and growth.

Accelerating the movement of merchandise offers significant advantages for everyone involved—end customers, retailers, and particularly wholesalers. You likely have already implemented many foundational improvements in your wholesale operations, such as intelligent warehousing, bar-coding, efficient racking systems, enhanced transportation options with same-day or overnight deliveries, and specialized software designed to expedite the delivery of merchandise to its destination.

Outside sales reps play a pivotal role in your B2B operations as a manufacturer, wholesaler, or distributor. Leveraging independent sales reps can significantly enhance customer relationships and drive business growth. However, managing them efficiently can be challenging. By equipping your sales reps with advanced sales rep software, you empower them to better serve your customers and optimize the order management process.

Back office and front office operations are often performed by one key individual in small companies. The same person may do sales, customer service, purchasing, and accounting. They probably supervise shipping and water the plants, too! Even though one person or a small team does almost everything, it can help to plan for growth and departmentalize the different functions that they perform. Getting the most out of your QuickBooks accounting software, carefully selecting QuickBooks add-on software, and creative outsourcing can really ease the burden on your key person.

Here are five specific ways small wholesalers can make daily life easier and plan for growth.

A tailored online order management system for your sales reps and B2B customers offers many advantages. By enabling them to place orders and find answers around the clock, your internal team can dedicate their efforts to strategic problem-solving and business growth rather than routine order entry and customer service tasks. This B2B portal enhances customer service by providing instant access to essential information like inventory, pricing, and tracking numbers, eliminating unnecessary delays. Most of your B2B customers and reps will readily embrace this new B2B portal, streamlining their operations.