Eagle's Customer Order Management Tames Special Orders Process at PC Building Materials
Executive Summary
The mainstay of PC Building Materials success is its special order
sales of doors, windows, cabinets and other specialty products to
builders. Activant Eagle® has dramatically improved its special order
process and in fact, one employee claims that the Eagle Advanced
Special Order module is a 100% improvement over the previous
process. RF and Document Management are also noted time-savers
for this business. Revenue has grown 10-20% annually with only one part-time staff added
to the back office.
From Cash Register to Essential Business Tool
PC Building Materials sells windows, doors, cabinets, lighting, flooring and all the specialty
products builders need. In its market in southern Indiana, PC Building Materials is known
for outstanding customer service. The company was named the 2006 ProSales magazine’s
Showroom of the Year.
PC Building Materials has been using Activant Eagle for ten years, but until about three
years ago, Eagle was used as a glorified cash register. “We hadn’t invested the time or
resources to take advantage of the full power of the Eagle system. Today, it’s as valuable as
our staff in running a successful business. As I recently told a local reporter, the computer
system shows up every day on-time, wide awake with a good attitude, and is seldom down.
It’s an essential tool,” asserts David Stemler, owner.
Managing Special Orders for Success
At least 70% of PC Building Material’s business is special orders and Activant’s Customer
Order Management module significantly improved its special order processes. “At every step
in the process, the Customer Order Management module helps us tremendously. From
entering the order, receiving the product and attaching a custom special order label, tracking
the order, and finally contacting the customer and consummating the sale, Activant has
improved the process,” describes David. “Once the order is entered, the sales person doesn’t
have to worry because the order automatically generates a PO for the supplier. The special
order labels we print when product is received are a snapshot of the order and contain all the
information we need. We also use a report that highlights orders that haven’t been picked up
within 30 days so we can remind customers to pick up their orders.”
PC Building Materials has a robust special order business for installed kitchens.
These orders are complicated, involving parts from seven or eight suppliers and at
least one installer. “Since we integrated our kitchen planning software into Eagle,
our business has more than doubled and we have not added staff. From kitchen
design to quotes, orders, receipt and delivery—it’s automated in Eagle and works
for us,” explains David.
“With the large volume of suppliers and SKUs we have available for special orders, the ability
to upload vendor price lists and SKU information into our Eagle system saves us a lot of time
and makes it much easier to process our large volume of special orders. Since we’ve updated
our special order processes with Eagle, we no longer have special orders that ‘fall through
cracks’ and have the embarrassing situation to have a customer inquire about their order to
find that it was never received by the supplier, or was missed upon receipt and is sitting on a
shelf somewhere. We now exceed customer expectations,” continues David. “One of the best
statements about our Eagle system came from an employee that was very reluctant to make
the changes three years ago. When asked how the new special order process and system was
working he asserted that it was a 100% improvement and 100% easier!”
RF Improves Inventory Accuracy
The RF system allows an employee with limited knowledge to walk the floor and point, scan
and update inventory. “Our goal is to cycle count every item four times per year and RF
makes that possible. There was no way we could manually count everything in the store that
frequently,” says David. “We have about 95% accurate inventory since we’ve installed RF. It’s
just tremendous!”
Increased Back Office Productivity
With 80% of its business on account, invoices and statements required a lot of back office
activity. “We love Document Management and Signature Capture! The statements
automatically print at the end of the month and we’ve saved many, many hours by not
copying, filing, sorting and preparing statements,” concludes David. “In the ten years we’ve
been using Eagle, our business has grown between 10 and 20% every year and we’ve only
added one part-time person in the back office. Eagle, and the modules we use, makes it easy
for our business to grow without adding staff.”
“Since we’ve updated our special order processes with Eagle, we no longer have special orders that ‘fall through cracks.’ We now exceed customer expectations.”
