Edward Don Finds "Answer" for Order Entry with OrderWriter®

 

Overview

Founded in 1921, Edward Don & Company is the world’s leading distributor of food service equipment and supplies.  Specializing in products and services, the company is the leading supplier of all types of food service businesses including independent restaurants, national chains, health care, hospitality, country clubs, schools and universities, government institutions, and food service management.  Edward Don & Company serves customers nationwide and stocks over 12,000 items.  The company motto is “Everything but the Food”.

Challenge

Edward Don products play a critical role in helping the food service industry manage costs and improve business operations.  To support Edward Don’s commitment of providing the best customer service in the industry, the company searched for a more efficient and productive method of handling orders taken by their sales force.  Past techniques, including paper price catalogs, special promotion flyers, calls placed to the Customer Service Representatives, and paper order forms were not sufficient to keep the sales force current with the company’s changing products, inventory levels, and prices.  Keeping the geographically disparate sales force of 350 people updated required the company to establish a better way of processing customer orders.

Solution

Edward Don selected a remote order entry solution called OrderWriter® from Ai2.  OrderWriter® is a unique software application known for its robust capabilities, flexibility and ease of operation.  “Providing the customers order history, equips the Edward Don sales force with the necessary information for delivering exceptional customer service.  Customer service is our primary objective,” said Jim Lyman, Vice-President of e-Commerce & Customer Connections.  “We want our sales force using a remote order entry system that provides accurate pricing and current inventory information.  OrderWriter® capabilities vastly improved accuracy and productivity as well as customer service.  It was vital for our company to eliminate the telephone ‘logjam’ that occurred daily when the sales staff called in orders or inquired about current inventory status,” explained Lyman.

Edward Don uses the OrderWriter® solution to complement its existing telephone and web based ordering systems.  While in the field, the sales force has the ability to communicate current product availability and order history to their customer.  This additional information results in increased sales and satisfaction.  OrderWriter® enables remote order entry by the sales force therefore reducing the inbound calls to Customer Service Representatives.

“Edward Don provides leadership in the foodservice industry,” Jim Lyman emphasized.  “To be a leader, we need to provide our sales reps with the best tools like OrderWriter®.  The OrderWriter® solution is a critical tool of the Edward Don sales force.”