Manufacturers & distributors – Are you communicating effectively with your B2B channel?
Published June 9, 2021 · Channel communication
Phone, email, and fax loops do not scale. More and more manufacturers and distributors are giving their B2B channel a self-service customer portal so buyers get answers on their schedule—and your team stops re-keying the same information.
Improve communication with 21st-century tools
How much time does your staff spend on customer requests like…
- “Can you email me a copy of invoice 12345—I misplaced my copy.”
- “Did you get the order I left on your voicemail?”
- “I submitted a warranty claim three weeks ago—what’s the status? Are we getting a credit for the time we spent fixing the issue?”
- “Do you have any 12-ounce insulated stainless steel coffee mugs currently available?”
Do your B2B customers still fax or phone in orders? (Hard to believe, but faxes are still a thing.) Does order entry ever struggle with a handwritten part number—“Is that a 1 or a 7?”—and when the wrong part ships, does the customer expect you to pay return freight?
Do buyers call your office for inventory availability while their customer is standing there ready to buy? If they cannot reach someone, how much business walks out the door?
These are just a few examples of communication friction that strain relationships. A self-service customer portal is increasingly the most effective way to address them.
What’s a customer portal?
A customer portal gives your customer a browser-based view into their relationship with your company. You assign a unique username and password. When they sign in, they can see information such as:
- How much they currently owe
- Invoice history
- Order confirmations
- Shipment tracking
- Inventory availability
- Warranty claim status, and related credit memos or replacement parts orders
They can also take action through the portal—for example:
- Enter their own orders so they flow into your order processing system with no double entry
- Print an invoice aging report
- Reprint an invoice they misplaced
Instant, anytime access makes it easier for your channel to sell and support your products, and it greatly reduces the time your staff spends answering calls, hunting for information, and calling back.
Different portals offer different features. A good solution is configurable: you choose what customers see. Do not want to expose inventory quantities? Turn that off. No warranty workflow? Disable that module.
Built for manufacturers and wholesale distribution
CrikSales is designed for manufacturers and wholesale distributors: an intuitive interface so you can communicate with customers without endless phone tag. Thousands of sales reps and B2B buyers use it daily to enter orders, check inventory, track shipments, run sales reports, and more.
CrikSales gives reps and customers QuickBooks-based data without giving them access to your QuickBooks company file. We offer a 30-day free trial so you can see how it fits before you commit.
Want a demo? Schedule a demo. Prefer a conversation first? Contact us about your requirements—or start a free trial and put your team and channel on the same page.