Unfortunately, many small business owners never really have the time to take advantage of new technology. Who has time to learn a new platform every year? Who has time to troubleshoot and look up potential new technologies that a small business owner could use?
QuickBooks does what you need it to do, and you and your team are comfortable using it. Your employees take orders by phone and email, and while it’s not the fastest way to get them into QuickBooks, at least it works.
In the future, however, you might not be able to get away with “well, at least it works.” Especially if you have more business than you used to or want to get more business and spend most of your time simply taking and processing your regular orders.
In theory, online order processing sounds nice, but you’re not an online store that can just use a shopping cart.
The problem with most new technology – including the kind that would help you streamline your business - is that it’s geared for a type of business that you just aren’t.
You sell to other businesses, so your business may run on a different payment model. You may offer different terms for that payment, such as net 30 terms or cash on delivery. This means you need a system that allows you to accommodate those terms. This is why companies often just continue using QuickBooks and taking orders by hand.
Maybe you don’t have a single price for every item – maybe you offer quantity discounts, or maybe each company you sell to gets its own specially negotiated prices. As such, each account has unique pricing that you have to keep in mind. You’ve configured that in QuickBooks, but setting up online ordering for your B2B customers with unique lists can give you a headache just thinking about it.
You might also have sales reps who own specific territories or customer lists. They need to be able to check pricing, inventory, and order history. They need to place orders for their customers and see backorder info, too.
Because all your accounting and inventory management takes place in QuickBooks, you need something that works seamlessly. Your warehouse may also need to be able to access the orders so they can fulfill them.
The Catch-22 For Most Small B2B Business Owners:
You’re trapped in an endless loop of taking orders to keep your business running but never having the time to get ahead. You have bigger projects that you and your office team need to work on, but no one ever has the time to tackle them. Instead, whoever manages to finish invoices first tends to chip away at them, which is hardly the most efficient or effective way to handle a big project or problem.
One of those big projects you never seem to have the time to tackle is providing an online ordering system for your wholesale customers. It’s something you’ve thought about before, but most online ordering systems offer plugins that only work with proprietary shopping cart platforms, like Shopify.
You may need something designed to integrate with QuickBooks to automate your order processing. It may not be the simple order placement process that an online shopping cart can provide.
Automatic Processing of QuickBooks Orders is Actually Possible.
Sometimes, the most helpful technology is one that makes all of your other technology work well together. Something that removes the potential for error each time someone has to copy information from a handwritten, email, or phone order. Something that automatically processes those orders for you.
That’s where a B2B ordering portal designed for wholesalers, manufacturers, and distributors can help. You just haven’t known where to look for one or how it’d really integrate with your current method of processing orders.
Imagine this:
Your wholesale customers know how to find your current website. Instead of calling in or emailing their orders, they visit your website, which has a link to a customized online ordering portal with your logo and brand colors.
They log in and place their orders. Products are priced according to their negotiated prices, and they can take the time to place those orders at their convenience.
No more calls taking up your office staff's time or spending time deciphering typo-ridden emails.
Now Commerce offers just such a portal. We work with hundreds of businesses, and while none are the same, our online ordering system is adaptable enough for any B2B company that uses QuickBooks.
Want to see it in action?
