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Taking and placing orders is
the best part of doing business. And taking
orders online or by phone is easy for anyone to
do. And once you’ve taken a few orders online or
off, then the whole process becomes routine and
a pleasant one as well.
How to take and place orders online:
After the customer places their order online, an
order confirmation email is sent to you, the
seller, from your shopping cart system. This
order confirmation email will include the
customers’ name, billing address, shipping
address and the name of the product ordered.
You will not see or receive the customers’
credit card information in the email as this
information is processed in a secured and
encrypted manner through your payment processor.
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However, once you receive the order confirmation
then this also confirms that the customers’
credit card has been approved and authorized for
the charge and you can now proceed to place the
order on the distributors’ website or by calling
the distributor and placing the order over the
phone.
For example:
You’ve just received an order confirmation email
with an order for a Nikon digital camera.
The first thing you’ll want to do is check to
see what camera the order is for, (make and
model number), and where the camera is going to
be shipped to.
Then you’ll want to check, shop and compare
amongst your preferred electronics and computer
product distributors to see which distributor
has the camera in stock, at a warehouse location
closest to your customers’ “ship-to” address,
and at the lowest price as well.
The closer the distributors’ warehouse is to the
customers’ ship-to location then the lower the
shipping costs will be for you, the reseller.
The customer will still pay the same flat rate
shipping charge while you the reseller will be
able to save on the shipping rate and thus
allowing you to make a small profit on the
shipping charges as well.
Furthermore, if the distributors’ warehouse is
in the same state as the customers’ ship-to
location then the product can be shipped via UPS
ground at a much lower rate and arrive at the
customers’ door step on the very next day.
However, if you’ve offered the customer “free
ground shipping” and the customer has opted to
take you up on your free shipping offer then
your main objective becomes to find the
distributors’ warehouse closest to your
customers ship-to address in order to save
yourself some money on the shipping charges.
Once you’ve determined which distributor you’re
going to use then you can proceed to place the
order on the distributors’ website or over the
phone as well.
If your pricing is already set with distributors
at a certain pricing level then you can proceed
to place your order online on the distributors’
website.
1. Find the product on the distributors’ website
2. Order the product (or add the product to the
order)
3. Enter the customers’ ship-to address
4. Select shipping method, i.e. next day, 2 day,
ground shipping
5. Select payment method, i.e. credit card, net
terms, EFT
6. Complete order
Or, if you were able to find the same product
from another distributor, at a lower price, yet
from a warehouse located further from the
customers’ ship-to address then you may want to
call the first distributor to place the order by
phone in order to try to negotiate the price
down by a couple of dollars or more, or at least
match the price of the other distributor as
well. |
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Many times, sales reps are
authorized to discount the price of the product
for a few dollars or more and in such cases it
may be worth your while to call the distributor
instead of placing the order online.
However, again, if you’re already on a fixed
pricing level then it may be easier and faster
for you to place the order online rather than
taking the time to call the distributor to place
the order over the phone.
After you’ve finished placing the order with the
distributor, then the product will be shipped
out to the customer that same day.
At the end of the business day, the distributor
fulfillment system will send you a shipment
tracking number for the order or you can login
to the distributors’ website where you can view
the shipping and tracking information online.
You can then proceed to send the tracking number
for that order to the customer (via email) along
with a “thank you for shopping at your store”
message as well.
Many resellers prefer to place their orders
online to make sure the order is entered in
correctly so that nothing can go wrong. And
doing so is a simple matter of copying and
pasting the customers’ information from the
order email onto the distributors’ shopping cart
system leaving no room for error. Yet, over the
phone, it is possible (although unlikely) for
the distributors’ sales representative to make a
human error in the ship-to address for example.
Furthermore placing orders over the phone takes
more time than placing the order online. Being
placed on hold or having the sales rep repeat
the order to you, spelling out the customers
name and shipping address can become rather time
consuming and counter-productive as well,
especially when multiple orders are coming in
throughout the day.
However, if you feel more comfortable placing
your order over the phone with the distributors’
sales representative then you may want to do
what works best for you.
But if you want to save time and place the order
without having to speak to the sales rep or
being placed on hold then go ahead and place the
order online. Simply copy and paste the
customers shipping information onto the
distributors’ shopping cart system and complete
the order online. |
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How to take orders by phone
There may be times when the customer would
prefer to place their order over the phone
rather than placing it online. And if you
provided a toll-free phone number on your
website then those types of customers are more
likely to call you and place their order over
the phone.
There will also be times when the customer
already knows exactly what they want and will
call you to place their order over the phone
without asking any questions at all. And these
of course are the best customers to deal with.
These types of customers will simply call and
say, “I’d like to place an order”.
Then you could respond with, “Sure, I can help
you with that. What product would you like to
order?”
And if all of your orders were placed in this
fashion then running an internet business would
be easy and enjoyable, all the time. However,
this is not always the case.
There will always be customers who have pre-sale
questions to ask before making their final
decision to buy. Yet even these types of
customers can be pleasant to deal with and can
help you progress in your customer service
skills as well. (If you’re going to take orders
by phone then you’ll need all the practice you
can get). |
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For example:
A customer calls you to place an order over the
phone:
You: “Hello thank you for calling ABC Company,
this is David speaking how may I help you?”
The customer will proceed to ask you some
questions on a certain product or maybe even ask
you for a recommendation for a product as well.
And in such cases it’s important to have your
website open at all times in order to use your
own website as a reference for you. And you can
click on the product page of the product for
which your customer is asking about or be ready
to click on your comparison chart as well.
If the customer asks a specific question on a
particular product then you can click on the
link for that product page and use that page as
a reference to help you answer the customers’
question(s).
If you followed the instructions on “How to
Build Effective Product WebPages” then
everything you need to know about that product
will be right there on that product page. And
this will make it much easier for you to answer
all of their questions.
However, some customers may not know exactly
what they want or what they need and may need
your help and assistance in choosing the best
product for them based upon their budget and
their needs.
For example, if you were selling digital cameras
on your website then the customer might ask what
digital camera you would recommend for them to
purchase if they were going to use the camera in
the dental industry.
Then you could click on your digital camera
comparison chart to find out which cameras offer
macro capabilities which is needed to get clean,
clear, close-up shots.
Then you can narrow the selection down by price,
make and model and let the customer choose from
there based upon how much money they’re willing
to spend on a camera. And once the customer has
made a final decision on which camera to buy
then you can proceed to take their order over
the phone. However, this may also be the best
time to up-sell the customer as well. |
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Up-selling on
products and accessories
Up-selling is a sales technique where you offer
the customer some additional items to add to
their order in an attempt to make the sale more
profitable. And in this case for example, you
can offer the customer a carrying case for their
camera, a travel charger, an extra memory card,
an extra set of batteries, and/or anything else
that the customer may want to add to their
purchase.
Studies conclude that it is 70% easier to get an
additional 3% in sales from an existing customer
than it is to get more customers to equal the
same dollar amount in sales.
In fact, many businesses usually combine
up-selling techniques to enhance the value that
the customer receives from the business while
maximizing the profit that the business receives
from the customer.
If the customer accepts your offer for extra
accessories (and many times they will), then you
can proceed to close the sale and take the order
over the phone.
NOTE: While you’re taking the order you will
actually be adding these items to the shopping
cart on your website yourself as if you were
placing the order in the customers place. In
other words, you will be placing the order on
your website as if they were placing the order
on your website themselves.
You: “Your total cost will be $289.70 and this
includes the digital camera model XZY, the extra
memory card and the carrying case. Where would
you like your order to be shipped to?”
And then proceed to collect the rest of the
customer information as well. (i.e. credit card,
billing address and shipping information)
Enter the customers’ ship-to information, (on
your website shopping cart), followed by their
credit card and billing information which
includes the credit card type, (MasterCard or
Visa), credit card number, expiration date of
the card and their billing address, (where their
credit card billing statement gets sent to).
You can enter the customers’ information onto
the shopping cart of your website as they
provide this information to you over the phone.
You can also write down their billing and
shipping details on paper as well and then enter
it into the shopping cart once you’re off the
phone. (Whichever way works best for you.) |
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Once you complete the order
on your website then the customers’ credit card
will be authorized and approved for the
transaction instantly.
Then complete the sale.
You: “Thank you for your order. Enjoy your
camera. Have a great day.”
Then you can proceed to shop and compare with
your preferred distributors to see which
distributor has the product(s) in stock, at a
warehouse location closest to your customers’
“ship-to” location and at the lowest price as
well.
Once you have located the product and have
decided on which distributor to use to fulfill
the order then you can proceed to order the
product from the distributors’ website or call
the distributor to place the order with a sales
representative over the phone. And again, you
can place the order with the distributor in
whichever manner works best for you.
At the end of the business day, the distributor
will send you the tracking number for that order
or you can login to the distributors’ website to
retrieve the tracking information online. Then
you can proceed to forward this information (via
email) to your customer.
Taking and placing orders is easy to do and can
be done by anyone as well. All you have to do is
take the order from the customer, online or over
the phone, and then place the order with the
distributor, online or over the phone as well.
The distributor will then ship the product
directly to your customer for you.
The customer receives their order; you’ve made a
profit and have gained a new customer in the
process. |
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Next-> |
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Paying for Products with Your Customers’ Money |
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How to Collect Sales Tax for Internet Sales |
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Avoiding Credit Card Fraud |
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How to Ship International and Overseas |
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