The customer is always right, but only about options they’re aware of. As a uniform company, your job is to help customers make fully-informed decisions about their employees’ uniforms, footwear and gear. It is thus essential to present them with a variety of payment plans. In particular, offer them the ability to pay for their purchases in ways most suitable for their needs, not yours. By allowing buyers to use as many ledgers as possible and designing flexible options to switch between ledgers, you enhance the convenience and effectiveness of their employee purchasing programs.
Lowdown On Ledgers
Clients who want their employees to purchase their own uniforms must choose a means of payment. There are six main ledgers they can use for this:
- Purchase Orders– Employees can use a purchase order number from your website as a means of payment.
- Personal Cards– Employees can pay for orders using individual credit or debit cards.
- Company Cards– The firm may authorize employees to pay with its official credit card.
- Allowances– The firm may create accounts for employees on your website. They can then place money on those accounts for their members to spend.
- Points– Instead of placing money on the accounts, the firm can instead purchase points, which employees can then redeem for uniforms, footwear and gear.
- Payroll Deductions– If an employee purchases an item, information is passed on to your customer for them to deduct it from the employee’s payroll. You invoice your customer as usual.
With each of these ledger types, it is possible to make the “balance” rise or fall (The ledger goes up or down.). Rising payments mean that the employees spending account starts at zero and goes up with each purchase. Falling payments involve giving the employee a certain starting sum and then subtracting the cost of each purchase.
Payment Programs
You will setup these rules in advance and then when the employee logs in they will see the exact payment methods appropriate for their job and company. There is virtually no limit to the number of employee purchasing plans that a uniform company can create for their customers. The most common ones include:
- Allowance Alternation– The employee will receive an initial allowance or a number of points, either once or on a recurring monthly or yearly basis. If they exhaust their points or allowance, they must (or can) pay for additional purchases through a personal card, or perhaps payroll deduction.
- Savvy Supervision– Employees can use personal cards or payroll deductions to buy anything that they want. If they want to make a purchase with the company card, or on a purchase order number, one of the firm’s supervisors must approve it.
- Ledger Limits– Clients may choose to limit the total amount their employees spend, as well as how much they spend with each type of ledger. For example, a client may allow each employ to use a company card for the first $500 and a personal card for the next $500, but prohibit any additional purchases.
- Identified Items– Your client may allow employees to use company cards, allowances, or points for ordinary gear and items. Rare, expensive, or unrelated items, however, require payment with a personal card and/or the approval of a supervisor.
Specific plans will vary based on your clients, but in general, you should provide a variety of payment options for your client. Whenever you obtain a new client, explain your employee purchasing program options, ask them if they have a specific way they would like their employees to pay and offer to create that payment program for them on your website. The easier it is for them to organize their ledgers, the more convenient their experience will be, convincing them to keep giving you their business.
Convenient payment programs are an essential part of uniform program marketing and maintenance, but they are only the beginning. For more information on designing a website, marketing your wares, and catering to customers in all industries, contact UniformMarket today.