Whether
you sell a product or a service, to resellers or directly to consumers,
the NetSuite Suite of products eliminates error-prone paper shuffling
and data re-entry by integrating and automating each department's
steps to process orders. This means your employees can deliver your
products or services faster and more cost effectively and you, as
a manager, can see the status of any order at any time.
Every
company processes orders differently. This overview explains the
general processes for both product-based businesses and service-based
businesses. Keep in mind that the NetSuite Suite of products can
easily be customized to match the needs of your own business.
Your sales team can manage their lead and customer records, for resellers
or end users, with the NetSuite Suite of products' Sales Force Automation
tool. Customers can be assigned pricing and payment terms based on
their status, their history with your company or a special promotion.
These prices are automatically applied whether they order from your
sales team or from your company's Web site.
If customers order from your Web site, you can approve and process
their credit card payments online. If you prefer, you can give customers
who order online the option to be invoiced with the same payment
terms a sales person would give them. Since they can place orders
themselves online, your customers can reorder easily and frequently.
With the NetSuite Suite of products, your sales team can quickly
create estimates. Addresses, credit card information and payment terms
are automatically entered in the estimate as soon as you select a
customer's name. The Suite even checks to make sure sales items
included in the estimate are in stock. You can also require that
a manager approve an estimate if a sales rep offers any terms besides
the standard ones defined on the customer's record.
You can fax, e-mail or print estimates — and all other related
sales forms — from within the Suite. All forms are also completely
customizable in terms of layout and information presented.
Once an estimate is accepted, you
can turn it into a sales order, or directly into an invoice or
cash sale, without re-entering the same information again.
At the same time, your shipping department is automatically notified
that they have an order to fulfill. The shipping clerk can print
out picking tickets to pull the items from the warehouse and packing
slips to attach to shipments. If any items are on backorder, you can
choose to allow a partial shipment. If you don't hold ordered items
in inventory, your customer's order can be automatically turned into
a purchase order and sent by e-mail or fax to your supplier for drop
shipment.
Once merchandise has been shipped, the accounting department is automatically
notified. Depending on your arrangement with the customer, you can
automatically bill the order or consolidate the charges onto one monthly
statement. When your customers Receive their merchandise and invoice,
they can pay by check or they can pay online by logging in to your
Customer Center.
If any items are damaged in shipment, your customers can also use
the Customer Center to submit an online return authorization request.
If they prefer, they can phone, e-mail or fax your customer service
team. Your support reps have instantaneous access not only to information
about the order in question but also about other interactions with
this customer. Sales reps as well can always see the status of their
customers' orders during this entire process.
If you run a retail establishment, you can process a sale directly
in the Suite while a customer is standing in front of you. You don't
need a separate Point of Sale system and separate data re-entry. In-store
sales decrease your inventory levels and update accounting records
automatically, so you always have current and correct information.
For
service-based businesses
Service-based businesses can take a similar approach to managing leads
and customers using the Sales Force Automation tool. If you choose,
you can even make your services available for sale online.
The
NetSuite Suite of products offers you advantages for any way you
process orders:
If
customers come to your location for service, you can directly
process a sale within the Suite and provide an immediate sales
receipt.
If
you provide estimates, you can e-mail, print and mail, or fax
them to your customers. As soon as a customer accepts an estimate,
it becomes a sales order. Once approved within your company, the
sales order becomes a work order for completion.
With
or without estimates, if the service is a lengthy engagement such
as a consulting project, you can just add a job to the customer
record, and the assigned employees can begin to bill their hours
immediately.
One important benefit that applies to all order processing methods
is that since the NetSuite Suite of products are Web-based, employees
and managers can all simultaneously access the Suite to perform their
jobs, wherever they are located-be it Washington state or Washington,
DC. And regardless of where the information is entered, it is all
stored centrally on one Oracle database. Businesses with multiple
locations can be just as productive as single-location businesses,
and you as a manager always have access to up-to-the minute information.
