A deposit, a promised month and a date that slips
A customer chooses a road bike in a size you do not have. The brand says it is due in six weeks. You take a deposit, put a note in the till and place the order with the brand's dealer portal. Four weeks later the brand pushes the date back. That update arrives in an email to the owner, who is on the shop floor.
Nobody tells the customer. They ring in the sixth week to ask when to collect, and the person who answers has to search the till, the portal and the inbox before admitting there is a delay nobody passed on. It is the same bike, the same customer and the same deposit, spread over three places.
Deposits, orders and dates are held in different systems
The deposit is a till transaction. The brand order is on a portal or a phone call. The delivery date lives in emails and changes over time. When the bike arrives it comes on a pallet with other stock, and someone has to remember which one is spoken for.
- Deposits are recorded but not linked to a specific brand order.
- Brand dates change and nobody is responsible for passing that on.
- Size and specification details are written on a paper order form.
- Arriving bikes are unpacked with general stock, and a reserved bike can be sold on the floor.
- There is no single list of what customers are waiting for.
Disappointed customers and tangled money
A customer who hears about a delay from you before they ask is usually understanding. One who has to chase feels forgotten, and some ask for the deposit back and buy elsewhere. A reserved bike sold to a walk-in is worse, because now you owe the waiting customer an apology and possibly a longer wait.
Deposits that are not tied to orders are also awkward to reconcile. How you record them in your accounts is for your accountant, but you need to know which deposits belong to which bikes.
One record for each customer order
We build a customer order tracker alongside your EPOS.
- When a customer orders, the record holds the bike, size, colour, any agreed changes such as stem or saddle swaps, the deposit and the brand order reference.
- Brand confirmations and delivery emails are read automatically where possible, and the expected date is kept on the record.
- When the date moves, the customer receives a short message with the new date, and the change is logged.
- When a delivery is booked into the EPOS, any bike matching a customer order is flagged as reserved, so it cannot be sold on the shop floor.
- A build job is created in the workshop with the customer's agreed changes, and the customer is told when to collect.
- At collection the deposit is found against the order, so the balance is right.
| Order | Brand date | Customer told | Deposit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Road bike, 56cm | Moved to next month | Yes, yesterday | Linked |
| E-MTB, large | This week | Build booked | Linked |
| Kids' bike, 24in | Unconfirmed | Awaiting brand | Linked |
Orders that look after themselves
Anyone at the counter can answer a customer's question about their order from one screen. Customers hear about delays before they ask. Reserved bikes do not get sold by mistake. And when the pallet arrives, the workshop already knows which bikes need building for which customers and with which changes.
Signs your customer orders need tracking
- Deposits are in the till but not linked to orders.
- Brand delivery changes reach the customer late or not at all.
- A reserved bike has been sold on the shop floor.
- Customer changes to the spec are on paper.
- Nobody can list every bike customers are waiting for.