Why dealers keep calling
A dealer who has sent an order has no way to know what happened to it. So they call, and the person who picks up has to look it up in a register or ask the stores. Multiply that by dozens of dealers a day and it becomes someone’s full-time job.
The four things dealers want to see
Almost every status call comes down to the same questions.
- Is my order received and accepted?
- When will it be dispatched?
- Has it gone, and with which transporter and consignment number?
- What is my outstanding and credit position?
Portal or WhatsApp?
Most dealers already live on WhatsApp, so it is the easiest place to send a status update. A simple portal or app is better for placing orders and checking history. Many businesses use both: orders go in through the portal, and status messages come back on WhatsApp through the WhatsApp Business platform.
Rolling it out to dealers
Start with your ten busiest dealers, not all of them. Show them in their own language, keep the phone as a fallback for the first month, and ask them what is missing. Dealers adopt what saves them time, so the first win is a status they can check in seconds.
What to measure
Three numbers tell you whether it is working: status calls per week, time from receiving an order to entering it, and the number of orders corrected after entry. If all three fall, the system is paying for itself.