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Marketing
brings them in, operations brings them back." The old
adage holds true now more than ever as customers have become
an essential part of the marketing process. The fact that
people trust recommendations from their friends far more than
those they receive from third-party sources isn't new. What
has changed recently is the reach and speed that a single
recommendation can have, particularly when voiced through
social media channels.
A customer's
complain that once took weeks to reach a dozen people now
takes seconds to reach hundreds. And one of the biggest challenges
for retailers is that today's digitally connected consumers
are far more vocal about their negative experiences than their
positive ones. This means that the companies that consistently
listen to their customers and improve the process of fulfillment
orders will have the highest impact on customer retention.
An order
is a confirmed request by one party to another to buy, sell,
deliver, or receive goods or services under specified terms
and conditions. Dissatisfied customers can quickly become
brand detractors and tell the world about their poor service
experiences.
Every
time we receive an order, it becomes a legally binding contract
that we need to deliver according to the expectations we promised
to our customers. Improving how to deliver orders in the most
efficient and satisfying way requires the understanding of
the following concepts:
- Customer
Order Cycle
- Customer
acquisition management
- How
to generate sales leads
- The
process of generating leads
- The
process of order entry.
Customer
Order Cycle
In most
cases the customer order cycle occurs at the distributor website
(affiliate) and includes all processes directly involved in
receiving and filling the customer's order. As a result of
a referral or action taken by an affiliate, typically, the
customer initiates the order cycle in the following way:
- Customer
acquisition.
The term Customer acquisition refers to the set of methodologies
and systems to manage customer prospects and inquiries generated
by a variety of marketing techniques. It can be considered
the connectivity between advertising and customer relationship.
This critical connectivity facilitates the acquisition of
targeted customers.
- Customer
Order Entry.
The term customer order entry refers to customers informing
the distributor what products they want to purchase or placing
an order directly at the distributor website. The objective
of the customer order entry process is to ensure that the
order entry is quick, accurate, and communicated to all
other supply chain processes that are affected by it.
- Customer
Order Fulfillment.
During this process, the customer's order is filled and
sent to the customer. This process generally includes picking
the order from inventory, packaging it, and shipping it
to the customer. All inventories will need to be updated,
which may result in the initiation of the replenishment
cycle. In general, customer order fulfillment takes place
from retailer inventory. The objective of the customer order
fulfillment process is to get the correct orders to customers
by the promised due dates at the lowest possible cost.
- Customer
Order Receiving.
During this process, the customer receives the order and
takes ownership.. When the product is delivered to the customer,
records of this receipt will be updated and payment of commissions
to distributor completed.
Customer
acquisition management
Customer
acquisition is the process of acquiring new customers for
business or converting existing prospect into new customers.
This process is specifically concerned with issues like acquiring
customers at less cost or acquiring as many customers as possible.
This process creates an orderly process for managing large
volumes of customer inquiries, or leads.
The process
must be able to organize numerous leads, at various stages
of a sales process. In order to understand this process, it
is helpful to examine a simplified linear lead flow process,
such as the following:
- Advertising
and promotion
- Customer
inquiry or response
- Inquiry
captured
- Inquiry
filtered
- Sales
contact
- Lead
nurturing or retention
- Sales
result
- Analysis
of promotion's effectiveness
Anything
that can be measured can be improved
Customer
acquisition management is a critical process that will allows
you to track result and quantify the effectiveness of various
promotional activities. By creating methods and processes
to track key acquisition data, you can get a more accurate
picture of the traffic and new customers result from each
channel. You will be able to realize continuous improvements
in both promotional activities and customer acquisition systems.
Customer
acquisition management also often includes the original response
to a prospect immediately after their inquiry. This response
could come in many forms - a personalized fulfillment letter
and brochure, an e-mail response or a telephone call. In each
case, you have to measure how you improve the relationship
with your customers.
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Creating
Orders 
