Putting Your Customers' Needs First

EDI reduced order error rates by about 40% and web order entry because of its “interactive nature” reduced order error rates by over 80% compared to manually entered orders that were faxed to T&B by our customers because the user could see exactly what he or she was ordering throughout the entry process. What we did not foresee was that many customers gravitated to web order entry because it was easier for them to use than their own computer system and they could get instant feedback as to product availability, pricing, shipping costs, expected arrival dates plus get the order entered all in ONE SINGLE PROCESS! Web Order Entry came about because we wanted to make it easier for our customers to do business with T&B. We had no financial goal or benefit in mind…only the desire to serve our customers better. But as a side benefit, business on the web expanded rapidly. Today, ABB/T&B reportedly does about $250 Million dollars a year via T&B Access web order entry! • Online Web Returns – Nobody likes to talk about returns; while most companies accept returns, and have a return policy, this is usually the last subject anyone wants to address. This discussion is not about what your return policy is or is not or what it should or should not be, but it is about making the returns process as painless and as easy as possible both on your customers and your company. Our initial online web return process was launched in 2002 to streamline the customer submittal process, T&B review and approval process and ultimately the credit allowance. We added over 22 major enhancements to this system in 2006. While the returns process does not usually impact that many employees at your customer, how well your company handles returns processing does impact how your company is perceived by your customers as being easy to do business. • Web Catalog – Our web catalog was launched in November of 2005 and by 2012, the web catalog accounted for 75% of our total web activity making it our number one digital asset. With a multitude of T&B brands, web catalog content development is a never-ending task. A good way to measure your effectiveness in keeping your catalog content current is to measure EACH ITEM sold by your company for the prior year: o Catalog number o Stock or Made-to-Order (MTO) identification o Number of orders o Number of customer locations purchasing o Sales dollars o Order Size Distribution Profile for number of orders o # Orders, quantity, dollars by Region of the World (U.S./Canada, etc.) o Brand o Product Category/Product Line o Web Content Available o New/Discontinued Item Status flags