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Source: Electronic Distribution Today, January 2003

As a distributor, you know the importance of providing your customers with outstanding service. Being responsive to their needs and making it easy for them to do business with you is key to profitability.

A Web-based storefront can help you meet your customers' needs while streamlining your processes and sending more money to your bottom line. Think your customers wouldn't use a Web site to place orders and view account data? Have you asked them recently?

Ask the Right Questions

If you asked your customers if they would use a Web site to do business with you, you'd probably get mixed results. A big part of being a distributor is meeting end-users' needs when they themselves aren't sure exactly what those needs are. Your customers will tell you that they want lower prices and better service, but they won't tell you how to do it - because they don't know how you can do it.

To find out if a Web-based storefront will meet end-users' needs, survey them. Ask them about the services they want you to provide and if they will see value in them. Then find out if they have access to the Internet and how they currently use it in their businesses. Ask them if they would access account information if it were available online or the value of having the ability to place orders 24 hours a day, seven days a week. What you'll probably find is that the idea of the added service appeals to them and they will use the Internet if that is the way to make it happen.

For larger end-users, such as manufacturers and other suppliers, giving them online access to account information helps them streamline their operations and frees their employees from lengthy phone conversations seeking basic information.

Smaller end-users, such as independent contractors, will appreciate using your site to plan the next day's projects in the evening - after regular business hours - according to what you have in inventory. When a contractor goes to your warehouse to pick up his order the next morning, he can start his day with exactly what he needs rather than scrambling for parts because you're out of stock of something he planned to do that day. He'll value the timesavings - which relates directly to his bottom line.

A properly built Web site that gives end-users access to key information and order capabilities 24 hours a day, seven days a week is a huge customer service advantage. If set up properly, the Web site can enable customers to select how they see information and in how much detail. All of this should equal faster service versus calling or faxing, and that will drive down your customers' costs as well as giving them better service.

And a Web site that brings value to your customers will in turn create more loyal customers and ultimately more sales. In addition, since your customer service representatives aren't spending their days re-keying orders or answering customer inquiries, they can spend their time doing what most benefits your bottom line - growing your business by selling to new customers.

Spread the Word

Just because you build a Web site, doesn't mean your customers will flock to it. You're giving them a new tool to do business with you and they need to learn how to use it to their advantage.

To this end, use an inside-out strategy. Start by teaching your employees the value the Web site can bring to end-users. Encourage them to spread the word and invite customers to visit the site.

When it comes to educating your customers, take the time to explain and demonstrate the value the site will provide them. It is important that they see the site as a valuable service you provide.

Bottom Line Benefit

Creating a Web site for your business will benefit your bottom line with increased sales, improved customer service, and reduced operating costs. It's a service end-users will value, and in this highly competitive marketplace, a Web site just might be what keeps your customers from going to another distributor. After all, if you can meet all their needs quickly and easily over the Web, why would they ever want to go anywhere else?

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