Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for office and cleaning supply dealers.
A checklist built from how office and cleaning supply dealers work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Rate contract per customer
- Repeat order lists
- Site-wise delivery notes
- PO-linked invoicing
- Customer order trends
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For dealers and retailers
- For sales officers
- For order desk clerks
- For storekeepers
- For accounts assistants
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Orders by dealer, territory and day
- Orders held on the credit limit, and who released each one
- Pending quantity: ordered, dispatched, still owing
- Scheme and discount given, dealer by dealer
- Dealer outstanding with ageing, oldest bill first
- Dealers who have not ordered this month
- Returns and credit notes against their invoices
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- Accounting package export
- SMS
- Payment links and gateways
- Transport document through your provider
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Will it work when half our dealers will not log in?
- Can dealers see what is really in stock?
- Can it stop an order from a dealer who has crossed his limit?
- Can our salesman place an order for a dealer?
- What happens when only part of the order can be sent?
- Will our accounts stay in our accounting package?
- Can our dealer balances be moved across?
- Will a dealer manage this on his phone?
- Who owns the order and ledger data?
- What does it cost?
- How soon can dealers start ordering through it?
- What should the business have ready before dealers are invited?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Order lists are retyped from emails
- Rates on the invoice differ from the contract
- Signed delivery notes and GRNs go missing
- Pack sizes and units do not match the order list
- Declining customers go unnoticed
Prefer to talk it through? See the office and cleaning supply dealers page.