Improve Your Supply Chain & B2B Customer Service
June 30th, 2018
Many companies fail to make the connection between their supply chain and their B2B customer service. It’s as if customer service means answering the phone with a pleasant voice and the supply chain means keeping the factory running.
But more often than not, while your customers appreciate a nice greeting, what they are really interested in is finding a reliable supplier who always has stock, answers their questions and delivers their orders promptly. (And if you had the lowest price too, you’d have to shoo them away from your door!)
If and when they find these things, they will likely be very loyal to the supplier that provides them.
Interestingly, you can develop or improve on all the features listed above, that will make your B2B customers happy and loyal, by optimizing your supply chain.
Optimize B2B Customer Service with Supply Chain Management Systems
Your business relies on its supply chain to keep operating. Even the slightest interruption to one small part of the chain can cause costly downtime.
Your B2B customers’ businesses are the same way. And you can keep both your own supply chain and your customers’ supply chain running more effectively using one a supply chain management system.
Your system can include warehouse management, inventory management, EDI, order management, vendor management, barcoding and distribution management, among others.
When you put these tools to work to improve your supply chain.
You can improve your customer service in the following ways.
1. Place Orders Faster
Instead of your sales team needing to get back to the office to initiate an order, they can do so in real time anywhere they have an internet connection, using up-to-the-minute inventory data.
2. Faster Delivery Times
With immediate and up to date data, you can fill orders faster and more accurately.
3. Minimize Shipment Disruptions
The sooner you know about shipment delays, the sooner you can advise customers \ and put alternate plans in place.
4. Fewer Stockouts
Most businesses don’t realize how much a stockout costs them in lost sales. It goes way beyond the lost sales of the SKU that’s out of stock.
5. Give Your Customers Current & Accurate Information
When they want to know how much you have in stock and when you can deliver, you can tell them.
To learn more about optimizing your supply chain and B2B customer service, please contact us at AdvancePro.
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