Tip #4 - Use Product Look-Up Capabilities
Do you have any idea how much your sales would go up if your people could always find an item at another of your locations, or a substitute item? Or if you could look up an item by an alternate part number such as a manufacturer's part number?
When customers call in with less than a complete description of what they need or if you are our of stock on a certain item, the ability to quickly suggest an alternative item or place a special order makes the difference between making a sale or losing it. As you know, whenever you lose a sale, you also risk losing the customer to a competitor who can meet their needs.
The key of course is to have vital information at your fingertips. That's what Panasoft's inquiry windows and cross search capabilities can do for your business. Imagine being out of stock on an item, then hitting a key and having a screen with item information pop up right before your eyes.
You would immediately see that while you don't have any on hand, there are three that have been allocated but not shipped yet. If it is important enough and your other customer is flexible, you might make a switch with substitute items that the computer will display, or you could have some shipped directly from another location because they currently have some on hand.
On the other hand, you just might hit another key and pull up a cross-search screen to see what other items you might recommend.
You could handle it either way or both ways very quickly. You could also pick up a lot of sales you are missing now and keep many of your customers from calling your competitors to get help that you aren't able to give them.
Inquiry Profit Questions
- How many customers do we lose to competitors because we can't find fast alternatives to meet those customers' needs?
