Welcome to Eco Ask why, a podcast that dives into industrial manufacturing topics and spotlights the heroes that keep America running. I'm your host, chris Granger, and on this podcast we do not cover the latest features and benefits on products that come to market. Instead, we focus on advice and insight from the top minds of industry, because people and ideas will be how America remains number one in manufacturing in the world. Welcome to EECO Asks why. I'm your host, chris Granger. I'm looking forward to hanging out with you today. We're going to continue our series here on EECO Asks why, unpacking some areas around account management, particularly online procurement, and how we go about serving those customers out there in this area. Again, this week it's kind of this month, rather is a follow along to the series we've been working on for the last few months and we're going to talk specifically today around how you can unlock even more efficiency when you're online procurement system with items like product lists, custom part numbers and so much more. Because we recognize that how quickly things are changing rather there we go and how important it is to stay organized and efficient and that's so critical for you to meet your business needs, and at ECO we really see the importance of seamless purchasing, that experience that you're looking for, and that's why we're excited about several of these features that we talked about today, because this is going to help you optimize that process of procurement, and we know that's such a big deal because you have so many competitors out there. The landscape is very difficult. Manufacturers out there are fighting tooth and nail with each other to stay, you know, on the front line of technology and emerging solutions and things like that anyway. So what we can do where a distributor can come in handy and come in and really be helpful is to help that process so far as a up efficiencies and helping to ensure that you have the product that you need on hand. Okay, so again, we're going to be looking at items today like product lists, customer part numbers, open orders, invoice history and even a few more things, because really, at the end of the day, what we're trying to do is put you in full control of your online purchasing. Okay, because if you're in full control of your online purchasing, okay once, because if you're in full control of your online purchasing, then you can navigate and you can, you can move, uh, maneuver in a way that makes the most sense to you. So let's get going into it, okay.

So we're going to start off by just sharing some things around product list, because this is such a big deal, particularly when you're when you're working with uh, you know the types of material on a regular basis. Product lists are a really momentous change if you're regularly buying the same items over and over and over, so you can almost think of this as like your personalized catalog, and it's going to really help you save time and reduce those errors by grouping these frequently purchased items of products together. Okay, and if you're juggling multiple projects or managing a very large inventory, for instance, these lists will make it easier for you to reorder without having to go through the process of the search over and over again, and you can do this with default lists. You can set up your favorites. Okay, when you have an online account, all this is accessible to you, and then you can create additional lists that are custom-tailored to specific projects or maybe a department, or just something that's just frequently used. You want to make sure that you have this in this certain area. So if you're an administrator in our system, you can even assign some of these lists to other team members, and so what you're doing here is you're ensuring that your organization has access to what they need. Say that again You're ensuring that your organization has access to what they need and that's so important. And this product list page is a really easily accessible area, right from the quick navigation dashboard on the account to streamline this process.

So if you've ever oversaw procurement for a project, maybe for a construction company, you know what it looks like to have to reorder the same set of electrical components for different job sites over and over and over. I know I used to do this a lot when I managed one of our eco locations. We had certain defined templates based off okay, if this was a 200 amp service going in for this home, this is the typical product that you would need to get it going out the door right. That way, the contractor, contractor, come in, then we could just rinse and repeat that right, almost like a kit, like here you go, here's what you need to get that service up and running. The same thing for your projects as you go on out there and by creating these, these product, these product lists for each site or project, you can quickly locate and order the exact items that you need, and this is going to really minimize your downtime and, most importantly, it's going to keep the job on schedule, because we know that is so crucial these days is staying on schedule, because once you get behind, then you have to throw in overtime in, and when you throw in overtime, you're what? You're just ruining your budget, right? You just it's all taking a, all taking an impact to the bottom line.

So easiest way to get started, if you're in the system itself, just start by locating the product on the search bar that you're looking for. And once you find that product that you're looking for, that you use consistently, you can directly at that point make it a default product list or create a new one with just a few clicks. It's super easy to let you do this and you'll find that this particular tool is very useful for just everyday work as well as big projects. And you know, take advantage of this. Add multiple lists, make sure you keep these lists on hand, share those lists out, because that's going to really help you stay organized. And again from the product detail page is where you get started here. All right Now.

So once you have your list, you got to figure out a way how to take that list and actually move it to your shopping cart, right? So let's say that you have items in your cart but you realize that you need to save them for a future reference, okay, and if you navigate to your shopping cart and you select the items that you want to move, hey, you can say, hey, I want to move these items specifically here to this product list. Boom, there you go. You can't create a new list from the cart, but you can definitely quickly organize your products into existing lists from there. And again, this is all about flexibility and adaptability and we're trying to do all the things these little levers, these little mechanisms put in front of you to help you make better decisions. Ok, so now, if you've, if you've ever found yourself preparing orders in advance, you know or waiting on project approvals you know this is a big deal because you're not ready to order this particular product yet, but you're going to be in the future hey, we're going to help you keep track of that potential purchases without continuing immediately, right now. There's going to make it super easy for you to do this against a straightforward way to manage these complex procurement needs without losing sight of the important things and important items moving forward, ok, so again, that's a big area of the product list that we just know. There's a lot of value there and it's going to help accelerate things moving forward.

Now. The next area we want to talk about for a minute is how you can enhance your identification of these products that you use with your own customer part numbers. How awesome is that? Because if you have that, this is going to create even better traceability for you. So let's say that you're trying to streamline your future searches and you want to help your local team be able to find the products that you consistently use. Well, you can add your own customer part numbers right in the system, right in the database. Okay, you do this on the product detail page. So let's say, you find the product that you want. Maybe it's this nice PLC or this nice drive, whatever it is. You click on Add Customer Part Number and then you put your unique identifier right there. So in the future you don't have to worry about whatever the manufacturer's part number is. You can just search for your part number very quickly. It's going to align directly to the right product. You don't take all the guesswork out of it. And then you talk about rinse and repeating man. It becomes so much easier once you have this in place and you start ensuring consistency and accuracy, probably most importantly inside this, inside the system doing it this way.

So now, if, if you manage just take this scenario a diverse inventory with, with multiple suppliers out there. So if you had your own part number for the frequently ordered products, you can reduce that search time, because it can be hard. It can just as someone who worked in inside sales for a period of time back in my co-op days. It's hard to find products sometimes. There are so many options out there. So if there's a way to reduce that search time and make sure that we're not going to create errors across all the different departments of people that are going to be interacting with the system, we want to do that, and this feature helps you do that, helps you always stay on the right page, helps you always get the source to the right items, reduce that risk of mistakes and, ultimately, your efficiency is just going to go up, up, up, all right.

So now, once you've had the orders, it's important with the online system to be able to manage those orders and with a really high level of control. So the first thing you need to be able to do is to view and to manage those open orders. Okay, so the open order page within our system provides that central hub for tracking and managing all those pending orders. Okay so you can go here directly. I want to see it all. And if you're an administrator overseeing multiple teams or different departments, this is such a big deal because you can quickly see which orders are waiting on approval and who is it like, who are the orders tied to, and it gives you an opportunity to keep a close eye on any expenses. That to ensure all that your orders and things like that are aligning to your budget constraints, so you don't want someone coming in ordering things outside of your purview. This gives you the ability to see that. And if you have a situation where you have multiple departments submitting orders simultaneously, as an administrator you need to be able to verify those orders that they align with the company protocols and as well as where you're setting your budget. This open order page gives you that ability to review and approve or decline those orders efficiently. Ultimately, it's giving you that oversight and control. We know that's such a big deal because you want to have good mechanisms in place to ensure that you're controlling what comes in and what goes out.

All right, now to approve a pending order. It's basically, you just go to that checkout function and you're finalizing that purchase right there. And the same thing with the declines. You know what? I don't think we actually need this. After all, you go talk to the person who potentially put that order in place and you figure out you know we don't need this. You can delete it right there. And this is a very easy function that we put in place to really ensure that only authorized purchases are made, cause we know sometimes, how, how easy can it be just to be looking for something?

Next thing, you know you're on a order page Like, oh, I'm not ready to order anything. Well, if they don't know what, if you know they're not familiar with the system, maybe they have ordered something and you want to put a good measure in place to make sure that doesn't fall. You know that doesn't happen. Our system allows you to do that. Okay, and again, we know mistakes are going to happen, but if you have, if you have a system designed the way we have, we can swiftly, swiftly come in, cancel orders. Try to make sure those resources that you're looking for are allocated in the right place. Okay, so get big areas for sure.

Now, if you want to look at your order history or your invoice history, this will help you with planning, believe it or not. So if we have an order history area of our site, then you can review, you know what you've purchased in the past. You can start looking at your shipping dates. You can even reorder items directly there. So say, this project went really well and you know you want to rinse and repeat it. Don't completely start from scratch. Just use that right. Use, use right there what we have in place with our system to pick up some efficiency. Ok. And if you have that, by maintaining that really comprehensive log of all the transactions, you can plan for these future purchases even better and you can start anticipating some of your needs and managing your budgets better. So if you're starting to notice a trend where certain items are reordered over and over and over, hey, maybe you want to start looking at your overall purchasing strategy and up your level of on-hand inventory here. That's a good, easy way to avoid delays and ensure that you have that steady supply for your projects that you have coming up. And again, order history is a great way to spend a little bit of time. It's always a good practice to look back to understand what's what's happened here, so that you can make better decisions in the future.

Ok, now the invoice history page, a little bit different. This, this, this area of the site allows you to view, print and request proof of deliveries, and this is going to help you maintain accurate financial records, because we won't put all the data right there in front of you. And now maybe you're going through an audit and you need to get all those records up pretty quickly. Boom, right here, electrical Equipment Company. We have everything ready to support you there, and maybe your finance team has to reconcile payments or validate something about delivery, you know. Or by giving them access to these invoice histories, they can quickly, quickly retrieve this necessary documentation that they need. You know how that big, a big deal that is because they're reducing that administrative workload and you're ultimately expediting that whole process. Ok, so now, important stuff, for sure.

So let's let's talk about for a minute what about handling changes or cancellations? You know we've got to make sure that we have a high level of flexibility with any system that we build. This is what we've done, you know, because, once the order is submitted and processed, modifications and cancellations can be difficult. You know, because why would that be? Because we're moving stuff extremely fast, because we know that you need the product. But so if you have that rapid processing speed, okay, if you have that in place, well, things happen.

If there's an order that needs to be changed or canceled, it may be in your best interest just to reach out directly to account representatives, because they'll be able to guide this process and start making some adjustments. Because, quite frankly, we're trying to move this stuff fast to get the stuff to you in a smooth and efficient way as possible. As way as possible. And they've replaced a large order for a project. But a moment later, you're like oh, I need to add some more stuff, I need to modify it. Instead of worrying about it, you know, just a quick call or email to your account representative, and this is why distributors exist. We're here to serve you in these areas. Okay, now let's say things you've ordered stuff, you're going through it and then, at the end of the day, it's not what you needed.

So we're going to talk about how you can ultimately navigate those returns online, ok, and reduce that process. So that returns process with our online system is very straightforward. You know, I know sometimes with returns it can be very emotional. It can just get you frustrated. We want to take all that sting out of it and simply all we have within your my account page is that you can enter. There's a area right there where you can just start a return. That's simple, and this allows you to initiate that return online, and it gives you a convenient way to manage returns without having to make any phone call, without having to get worked up on anything or stressed out. You just go right there. But now you know you have to be able to log into the system to do this.

Okay, or maybe you still have. You're logged into the system, but you still like that personal connection. We love that at Eco. Okay, we still love that personal connection. Well, still, you can contact your account representative and they can get that going for you as well, because you need to recognize the system's there. But you may not always want to utilize every feature and benefit we have there, and we understand that. That's why we have team members ready to serve. So you need to remember, though, when you're doing restocking and returns, sometimes there's fees associated with that, or maybe there's different uh return policies depending, you know, depending on the product type or condition. So all that stuff will factor into play.

And maybe your, your team, ordered a bunch of electrical components for a project, uh, but you realize, you know what, when they arrived, that there's just something all. Maybe you want an Ethernet and they showed up a profaned or or different types of settings like that. It's OK, instead of navigating that lethal return process, hey, all that first step log into your online account, start that return process and then get those clear instructions of the next steps moving forward, because this is again going to maximize that downtime. It's going to help you be staying on track with your project timelines okay, so we understand that, uh, you know the account, the ability to manage your changes and request those returns directly through your online account. This is going to make sure that your procurement process is flexible, it's efficient and it's adaptive. Okay, because we know your needs are changing and if you understand how all these options allow you to respond quickly to changes, this is going to really minimize your delays that you have and, ultimately, it's going to ensure that you have the right product that you need in the future.

So if you have a sudden change that comes up and you kind of find out, you know some of the stuff you've ordered no longer need it. That's what Eco's here for. We're here to help and we can help you with that request to change process and returns and get you gives you that peace of mind that you're looking for, because you know we we know this it can be stressful enough managing procurement on these big projects. We don't want to be a stumbling block, we want to come alongside and help you there. So you know, if you have look at these tools that we have in place from product lists, customer part numbers, order management system and effectively handling those changes and returns you can see the investment we're making. We're really trying to streamline your procurement process, reduce those errors and ultimately optimize your overall purchasing strategy, and we're giving you those resources that helps keep that journey that you're on smooth, efficient and under control.

So I'd encourage you to go check it out. We've got a ton of resources here with our online account system and if you haven't got your online account set up yet at ECO, what are you waiting on? Come on, seriously, go check out the show notes. We'll have a link right there where you can go register for your online account. Maybe you're not an administrator, maybe you're a user. That's okay. We want to get you plugged into our system because there is a ton of data available at your fingertips, particularly if you're an engineer.

Out there you're working on projects, you're trying to source material, you want to get logged in with your own account, so get that set up. We have our complete, updated account management page. It gives you lots of insights on how you take advantage. A lot of these things we've been talking about on the podcast. So far as you know how to register for your account, how to get the ship to address the setup, the different roles, what does that look like? Then you know. Last, for our last episode, we talked a lot about pricing and product availability and and how do you go through that process of an order. All that is right there in that online account, okay.

So if you're looking for ways to grow, to enhance, to empower your procurement process today and be and be as flexible, efficient and accurate as possible in every transaction, and be as flexible, efficient and accurate as possible in every transaction, electrical Equipment Company is here to serve, so hopefully you're enjoying this new format of Eco Asks why. Definitely just an honor to be able to come and share this with you. I'd encourage you to check us out on LinkedIn our Electrical Equipment Company profile there. We have lots of things we put there on LinkedIn as well as. Just go to eco onlinecom so that's eco onlinecom and get started today. Log to get registered with your first account. Again, you have to have an account with us to get logged in there, but if you don't have an account, don't worry, you can request an account right there on eco online. Okay, so lots of easy ways to get started with this for sure.

So if you know someone who enjoys content like this, you like to share it with them. Maybe they're in the manufacturing space. They haven't. They're not utilizing online platforms to work with their distributors. I encourage you to share this stuff out. That helps. That could be something that really helps them moving forward. Again, if you want to give us a rating and review, that would be wonderful on the show.

If you like EcoSquad the way that we're serving Again, our YouTube channel. We have lots of things going on YouTube as well, so just hop over to YouTube search for Electric Equipment Company. Subscribe, be one of our followers there. We'd love to connect with you and, again, you can always reach out to us, ecoonline. Get connected with us directly. Find a location that's best for you, whether we're in the Southeast United States, that's where we're typically located. We're here, we're ready to serve, we're ready to help you. Just make the most out of your projects moving forward. So thank you again. Have a great day and remember to keep asking why. Thank you for listening to. Eeco Asks why this show is supported ad-free by Electrical Equipment Company. Eco is redefining the expectations of an electrical distributor by placing people and ideas before products. Please subscribe and share with your colleagues and friends. Also leave comments, feedback and any new topics that you would like to hear. To learn more or to share your insights, visit EECOASYcom. That's E-E-C-O-A-S-K-S-W-H-Ycom.