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Furniture Retailers are doing it tough at the moment across the board – and one of the toughest things to do is have to let go good people that know your products well and can sell.
It is common that the internal systems are getting in the way – if only you could free up internal time of your valuable people so they can spend just 20% more time selling – it would probably be enough.
To do this you need two things
SaaSplications is that partner
How SaaSplications works with you
The Scope of the System
A Retail POS with barcode scanning for selling small items and standard items. Scan and capture payment immediately and simply.
As an example if your store has a chess set, some pillows and some lamps that can be sold from floor stock – you need to be able to simply scan in a POS and capture payment.
Configurable furniture (build to order)
Example
You sell a sofa set at a price for the set
- say 3 x 1 seaters and 1x 3 seater
- with choices of material, legs, finishes, cushion fill, protective treatments and some dimension changes.
- Also needing to provide
- (1) a quote as above
- (2) a quote with only 2 x 2 seaters and less pillows
- and (3) a quote in a different material choice
The customer logs into the portal
- The variants are linked – so the customer can easily review the alternatives online
- You can see what they have viewed
- They can comment /ask questions that attach to the order and show in a list
- The customer can pay a deposit online when ready – or progress payments (requires payment gateway)
- As soon as the customer pays the order moves to sourcing
The sourcing team
- Source any required components sending out PO’s to suppliers with fabrication location address
The Production team
- Track and check on external fabricators
- Manage internal fabrication processes across multiple workcentres
- Track completion and confirm ready to deliver
- Plan deliveries with customers and capture related photos
About SaaSplications
Do you want run your business with local support who will listen, help troubleshoot and collaborate on improvements ?
How we make it easy to get started:
Contact us for a free review of what you do and how we can help you to simplify your business and get on a platform for growth.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”793″ alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]Configurable products
Configure multiple products with your customer – examples from a Sofa
RRP updates as you change selections
Enter dimension changes, attach drawings or photos to create custom quotes requirements with approvals and option to send to suppliers for a quote if fabrication is outsourced.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”900″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]
Make it easy for the customer
Some customers like to consider their choices and take time to discuss the options
Sending the customer an online link to a portal view including images and drawings to review and pay a deposit on can also shorten the sales cycles
Keep Salespeople Focussed
Software needs to make it easy to focus on the most likely opportunities, the next steps and schedule callbacks or customer revisits.
Dashboards keep your salespeople focussed
[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”912″ img_size=”full”][vc_column_text]Easy for customer to pay deposit
Deposits can be collected in store, over the phone, by a deposit arriving in the bank or online in the customer portal.
Once the deposit is recorded the software authorises the order, and it appears on the sourcing dashboard.
If a franchise group or multi-entity group is involved the inter-company financial transactions will be created as well.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”913″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]
Create quotes modifying choices as the customer watches and sees the impact on RRP.
To be Confirmed decisions
Flag any choice in the configuration as “Not Final” to indicate to you and the customer where they have not yet decided and to speed up the conversations.
Provide customers with diagrams / drawings in Portal
Attach notes, images or PDF’s at any level that are visible in the customer portal through quoting, ordering, manufacturing and delivery – all available on a phone.
Examples:
Variants
Simply copy any quote to modify the details of a copy (eg different material) to provide the customer multiple variant quotes.
Example
Opening the copy of a quote with a sofa suite of 3,2,1 seaters and an ottoman – then changing one material line to a different material – the system prompts if you want to change all items on the quote to the new material.
Customer Portal
Customer can easily view the quote on a phone then confirm any decisions, provide feedback or make the deposit payment online
Example
Sales rep starts the day seeing 4 quotes were viewed online today and there are two customer comments to followup – also 1 of the quotes had a deposit taken and materials are now being sourced for production[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]
Fabricated in house
Stay on top of requirements using the Sourcing Dashboard to list items that are not stocked and need to be sourced. Easily email suitable documents for suppliers with the address of the fabrication workshop.
Fabricated by others
Fabricators Supplier Portal provides a place for suppliers to Quote, Accept Orders, update ETA, post any questions / changes required, access documents, push status and upload completion photos for review
Fabricated by others with product supplied by you
Sometimes not all items are sourced by the external fabricator – flag anytime on the order so they remain on the sourcing dashboard (with a delivery address of the supplier) until ordered and delivery confirmed
Fabricated in house required components
The Sourcing Dashboard will list items that are not stocked (eg material, legs, handles) and need to be sourced creating suitable documents for suppliers with the address of the fabrication workshop.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]
QA inspection including photo documentation by your workshop floor or supplier attached to the order is critical to reduce possible future issues.
Final payment should be collected from the customer before the furniture is delivered and storage fees may be required if this is delayed.
Delivery and associated photos becomes a proof the delivered product was as ordered and in great condition.
All made easy by software that includes these stopping points and makes it easy to track, record and later use the documentation collected.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]In House Furniture Workshop Management
Furniture Production in the software uses a Job Shop approach where each job is prioritised by expected ExWarehouse date (driven by customer end delivery date plus delivery time) making it easy to change priority
Customer products travel together through workstations in series or parallel until completed using build steps
Capacity is viewed comparing scheduled shifts to expected build step times without locking – so adding more shifts or reducing any orders build time will adjust the schedule.
Work centres indicate starting, stopping, materials consumed (like timber or actual material usage) as they move from build step to build step providing confidence of completion dates and future quote eta’s.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]External Fabrication Management
Furniture suppliers need comprehensive documents and clear instructions and every step of typing new documents introduces a chance for error. So our software sends them the details of the original order as a purchase request without creating another document.
Furniture suppliers want to be paid a deposit on acceptance of the order and then will provide manufacturing start and completion dates expected.
Final payment is on accepted photos and the final product is not to be sent to the customer until the customer has paid a final deposit.
These are critical business management steps that are made easy using the supplier dashboard – providing suppliers with an easy access portal to get all information and enter date updates.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]
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