KB20240000/01: Best Practice Processes – Opportunities, Customers and Sales.

  • Track all potential customers as an Opportunity on your Sage solution. This can be done using a CRM module in your Sage ERP solution. You can also split them between Leads and Opportunities. A lead is almost any customer out there but an Opportunity is someone you had some dealings with in the form of an email, phone call or shared some pricing.
  • Ensure you track all interactions with your Opportunities so you know which ones have been visited, emailed, phoned or a proposal that is pending.
  • If an Opportunity does not accept your proposal you need to track why you lost the business, for example too expensive, too long a lead time etc.
  • Have a proper process to onboard customers, or promote the opportunity to a customer.
  • To create a customer, you will need to collect data regarding company details (company name, VAT number, registered company address, delivery address, proof of banking details etc.)
  • If your ERP system allows for it, ensure all information is completed before the customer account is made active. This will prevent you from invoicing the customer before all checks and balances has been performed.
  • With Sage X3 a customer can be created (but it is still inactive), and once all the information is entered a workflow email is sent to the responsible person to check and make the account active.
  • Find out from your customers if they want to receive the delivery note and invoice when the goods are delivered. The customer can also be invoiced as soon as the signed delivery note is received back from the delivery team. With some Sage solutions the delivery note and invoice can also be emailed to the customer.
  • Make sure all valid and important information is on the delivery note such as delivery date, products and quantities, method of delivery, delivery vehicle registration number, delivery vehicle driver name, customer order number, invoice number, customer delivery address, place to sign for acceptance of goods.
  • If your Sage ERP system allows for it attach the signed delivery note to your ERP system.
  • If possible, have pricelists for your products and services so incorrect prices cannot be captured by mistake.
  • Try and prevent double processing. Do not process a customer payment receipt as unallocated, and then later allocate it to the correct invoice. Process the entry once and process it correctly. Help this process run smoother by printing the reference number on the invoice and statement so the customer can use them when making payments to you. Also ask your customer to send you a remittance advice so you can allocate the payment to the correct invoices.
  • Ask your customers what information they want printed on the delivery note, tax invoice and or statement to make their processes easier.
  • Make sure you have exception management in place to flag when a quote has not been accepted or rejected, an order has not been delivered, or a delivery has not been invoiced.
  • Have proper sales reporting in place to see which products you are not selling at the correct selling price, or not making the correct profit margin.
  • Analyze your sales by company, region, branch, sales rep, product category and lastly by product to know where there is room for improvement.