Saving time helping your customers make quick ordering decisions can sometimes be very frustrating. Is your customer ordering process taking too much time away from your production time? I want to talk about how you can cut back on the amount of time that it takes you to help your customers make a final decision.
As embroidered, we want to be able to offer our customers a full range of lettering and design options but in the process of doing so, we sometimes have the tendency to overcomplicate the process causing us and the customers unneeded frustration. There are 4 simple ways that will help to save time and speed up your customer's ordering process.
Design Layout Options
Create several Design Layouts Options for your customer to choose from. By giving your customer choices of different layouts for him to look at before he places his order, you prevent him from asking you to create his logo with several different options for his approval. These Design Layout Options save time and instill confidence in the customer that you know what you are doing and know what will be the best option for him or his logo
Create Design Layout Sheets with several design templates that you have you already set up in your embroidery design software. Give each one of these design templates a Style No. When the customer orders a specific style no. you can quickly recall the design template from your system that he has ordered, change the lettering to what he or she is asking for and your design is ready to be sewn out. You can create two sets of identical design templates, one set to be sewn on woven fabrics and one set to be sewn on knit fabrics. These two sets of Design Layout templates will work for 95% of your customer's garment or fabric choices.
Limited Lettering Style Options
Limiting your lettering style options is huge in saving time as you are waiting on your customers and helping them to make the right decision quickly! In each of the embroidery software packages today you have many lettering styles to choose from and it is very tempting to want to show our customers all of the lettering styles that we have available. Many new embroiderers make the mistake of offering all of these styles to their customers and letting them chose which one they want to use. In order to do this, you must sew out every embroidery font that you have available and know what the capability and size restrictions are for each one. This takes a lot of time and is totally unnecessary. Our customers get so confused when they are faced with so many choices. I have found that the best way to handle this is to offer 2 or 3 Block lettering styles and 2 or 3 Script lettering styles. This is enough for them to choose from and will prevent the customer from being overwhelmed with your vast selection.
Samples Tagged with product information
Your showroom should be complete with high-quality samples that are tagged with all of the order information that is applicable to that product sample. This tag should include the style number, colors, and sizes available, manufacturer, price and quantity pricing. All of this information can be on a Tag that is attached to the sample garment. Having all of your samples tagged ahead of time with the appropriate information will save you a lot of time and prevent you from having to look up the information in the catalogs.
An Organized Ordering System
An organized ordering system is simple to put into place. This is true when you have all of your information computerized and even if you are using paper forms to be filled out while you are waiting on the customer. You can create Sales Order Packets with all of your forms included so that you do not have to look for your information forms while you are working with your customer. Inside of this Sales Order Packet, you should have a Customer Quote form, Order Form, Form of Payment, Production Timing Form, Artwork Production form, and your Packing slip.
When you are first working with a customer, they usually want a quote before they place an order. Prepare your customer's quote and make a copy of the quote form for him to take with him. Place your copy along with all of the other forms into a file marked Customer Quotes. When the customer comes back to place his order, pull the packet of forms from the quote file and you are ready to complete your order-taking process. By having all of these forms together in one packet, you will keep all of the customer information together and you will prevent mistakes from occurring.
You want the order process to be a pleasant experience for both you and the customer. When you offer your customers so many options they only get confused and it takes longer for them to make a final decision and sometimes that final decision is no decision. Reducing the number of choices you have to offer will save you and the customer a lot of time.
Inside of EmbroideryBusinessAcademy.com I teach you how to make all of your Selling Tools. Saving Time helping your customers make quick ordering decisions is huge in cutting the costs of working with your customers.