The first step of sales routine is enquiries received by the sales office. Normally, a company receives numerous enquiries from prospective buyers regarding goods or services, the terms and conditions of sale like price, delivery line of the goods, minimum order quantity, discounts, credit terms, methods of payment, and so on.
Sometimes, old customers also make enquiries to repeat their orders. Often, customers make enquiries about their required goods from several companies, compare them with one another and place order only after they are fully satisfied.
Most of such enquiries are done through mail. Therefore, an important aspect of sales routine is of handling the mail. Among the various means of communication between the seller and the buyers, mail is the most important one. Due attention must be paid to such mails which contain orders, enquiries and complaints from old and new customers. In case the enquiry is made about the specific aspects of a product like the price, discount, payment mode, etc. specific reply should be provided.
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These replies are generally known as quotations. Along with quotations, product features, terms and conditions of sale, delivery time, taxes to be charged, payment methods and so on, about the products are also sent.
The correspondence made by the sales organisation has to be friendly and polite in nature. In case the company wishes to send samples of the products or illustration about the various features of the product, the same can be despatched along with the sales literature and enquiry.
At times, it is essential to mention the important selling points of the product about which the enquiry is being made. If the customer making the enquiry is living in a territory covered by the organisation, the sales organisation can ask its salesman to visit such customer and discuss about the sale. Sometimes, orders are also received from customers through correspondence. Such orders received by mail are to be treated as receiving orders.
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Sometimes, mails also contain complaints from the customers either with regards to the goods supplied or about the behaviour of the salesman. All complaints should be dealt with personally by an important officer of the sales organisation.
All complaints of the customers or potential buyers have to be dealt with skillfully. It should be remembered that intelligent handling of customer complaints is an excellent opportunity for building up goodwill of an organisation.
While making replies to enquires from customers, all relevant aspects have to be covered. For example, the prices of some goods or services fluctuate at frequent intervals due to change in the financial policy, taxation policy, product innovations, and so on. In all such cases, while making price quotations, it should be clearly mentioned as to for how many days the quoted price is valid.
Similarly, the company should state clearly whether the price is inclusive of all taxes or not, terms of the installation charges, transportation and insurance charges, and so on. Such information helps the prospective buyer to ascertain about the final price and the terms and conditions. Besides, it also helps to avoid any misunderstanding between the buyer and the seller.