The ability to efficiently handle special orders is vital to the success of the independent bookseller. Excellent customer service is one way to distinguish the independent bookstore from the large chain stores and special orders are a vital component of customer service. The Book Wizard makes entering and tracking special orders extremely easy and efficient.
A customer requests a book, you perform a keyword search and find that the book is out of stock. Go to the Special Order file and click the Add button to create a new special order. Enter the ISBN of the book or just do another keyword search and double click on the book to add it to the special order. If the customer is a member of your book club, their name and address will already be in the Customer file. Type in their Customer Code (usually their phone number) or look them up by their last name. Entering two pieces of information, ISBN and Customer Code, will create the following special order.
Notice that the Status of the special order is Created. When the special order is added to purchase order, the Status changes from Created to Ordered and the PO number is listed on the special order entry screen. When books are received, in the receiving module, the program looks for special orders with the status of Created or Ordered and will generate generate reservation slips for each book matching either of these two criteria. These reservation slips can be quickly matched with the books and the customers notified. If the customer or the book is not in the system, both can be added directly from the Special Order Entry screen.
The Book Wizard will always generate reservation slips for the first occurrence of a special order book with the status of Created or Ordered. It does not wait for the specific purchase order that the book is in nor does it care if the book is even in a purchase order. This feature prevents you from shelving a book that a customer is waiting for.
This actually happened at the Dream Maker Children's Bookseller. A woman called on Monday morning and requested a book. A quick keyword search revealed that the book was out of stock. An order was being placed with a distributor that morning so she was told that she could expect the book in on Wednesday. That afternoon, UPS delivered an order from a publisher that had been placed two weeks ago. After the books were received and reservation slips printed, it was discovered that the book that was special ordered that morning was in the shipment. The customer was called and was absolutely delighted when she was told she could pick up the book that afternoon. This is just one example of how The Book Wizard can improve customer service and customer loyalty.
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