Saving Time – Part 4- Helping Your Customers Make Quick Ordering Decisions
In Part 1 of our Saving Time series I talked about how to save time Creating Embroidery Design Layout Style Sheets, in Part 2 I talked about Limiting Your Embroidery Lettering Styles and in Part 3 it was about creating Sample tags for all of your showroom embroidered product samples. Today I am going to go over how to create an Organized Ordering System.
An Organized Ordering System
An organized ordering system is simple to put into place. This is true when you have all of your information computerized and even if you are using paper forms to be filled out while you are waiting on the customer. You can create Sales Order Packets with all of your forms included so that you do not have to look for your information forms while you are working with your customer. Inside of this Sales Order Packet you should have:
- Customers Quote form
- Your Order Form
- Form of Payment
- Production Timing Form
- Artwork Production form
- Packing slip.
When you are first working with a customer, they usually want a quote before they place an order. Prepare your customers quote and make a copy of the quote form for him to take with him. Place your copy along with all of the other forms into a file marked Customer Quotes. When the customer comes back to place his order, pull the packet of forms from the quote file and you are ready to complete your order taking process.
By having all of these forms together in one packet, you will keep all of the customer information together and you will prevent mistakes from occurring.
During this series we have gone over 4 ways to help your customers make quick ordering decisions. You want the order process to be a pleasant experience for both you and the customer. When you offer your customers so many options they only get confused and it takes longer for them to make a final decision and sometimes that final decision is no decision. Reducing the amount of choices you have to offer will save you and the customer a lot of time.
I hope that this series has helped you to become a little more organized in your ordering process and that you see the value of taking the time to go through your ordering process and make some immediate changes that will benefit both you and the customer!
Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach
Saving Time – Part 3- Helping Your Customers Make Quick Ordering Decisions
In Part 1 of our Saving Time series I talked about how to save time Creating Embroidery Design Layout Style Sheets. In Part 2 I talked about Limiting Your Embroidery Lettering Styles. Today I am going to talk about saving time by Creating Tags to apply to all of your show room samples.
Samples Tagged With Order Information
Your showroom should be complete with high quality embroidery samples that are tagged with all of the order information that is applicable to that product sample. This tag should include the style number, colors and sizes available, manufacturer, price and quantity pricing. All of this information should be on a Tag that is attached to the sample garment.
These embroidery Sample tags are very simple to produce and portray a good image to the customer about your organization. I created mine Sample tags on card stock that I purchased from the office supply store, cut them apart and laminated them. They stay very clean and always look professional when they are laminated. I then attached them with a Hang Tag attachment.
Having all of your samples tagged ahead of time with the appropriate information will save you a lot of time and prevent you from having to look up the information in the catalogs. As your pricing changes, so do your Sample tags. Always keep them up to date with all of the correct product and ordering information! Click on the Sample Tag to see a larger image.
In part 4 in our Time Saving series I will talk about having an organized ordering system!
Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach
Saving Time – Part 2- Helping Your Customers Make Quick Ordering Decisions
In Part 1 of Saving Time-Helping Your Customers Make Quick Ordering Decisions, I talked about how to Create several Design Layouts Options for your customer to choose from. During Part 2 I am going to talk about limited your customers lettering style options.
Limited Embroidery Lettering Style Options
In each of the embroidery software packages today you have many lettering styles to choose from and it is very tempting to want to show our customers all of the lettering styles that we have available. Many new embroiderers make the mistake of offering all of these styles to their customers and letting them chose which one they want to use.
In order to do this, you must sew out every embroidery font that you have available and know what the capability and size restrictions are for each one. This takes a lot of time and is totally unnecessary. Our customers get so confused when they are faced with so many choices. I have found that the best way to handle this is to offer 2 or 3 Block lettering styles and 2 or 3 Script lettering styles. This is enough for them to choose from and will prevent the customer from being overwhelmed with your vast selection.
By limiting the embroidery lettering style options, you not only save time working with your customer is their selection, but you also save time in the set up of your lettering designs. If you are only working with a few lettering style options, you can have templates made ahead of time with all of the style settings included in the template. This is a huge time saving process when you are creating your customers design set ups!
In our next Saving Time series, I am going to talk about tagging your samples with the correct ordering information!
Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach
Embroidery Machine Maintenance Is A Must In Order To Get Maximum Efficiency
Embroidery Machine Maintenance is something that none of us want to deal with but in order to get the maximum efficiency from our equipment this is a must. It makes no difference if you are a sole person with a single head or a large multi-head production shop. Dealing with constant thread breaks or machine downtime is both very costly and annoying. Our customers don’t want to hear that you can’t do their job today because your machine is down. Most of the time this can be prevented with routine maintenance. It only takes a few minutes each week for each head and is easy to keep up with once you get it worked into your daily and weekly schedule.
I have found that stopping production early on a Friday afternoon to do all of my weekly maintenance pays large dividends the following week. It really helps to start the new week out on Monday morning knowing that all of my equipment is in tip-top shape and I can begin production immediately without the fear that the machine is going to break down right in the middle of a job.
The first thing that you should do every morning before you start production is to remove the needle plate and the bobbin case. Brush or blow out the Rotary Hook and Knife area. Oil the hook. This is done by placing one drop of oil, and I do mean one drop, (I use the small needle point applicator for this) on the rail of the hook just outside the bobbin case. Replace the needle plate and bobbin case and you are ready to begin.
Plan out all of your Embroidery machine maintenance and schedule your daily, weekly and monthly maintenance just like any other appointment. This is a very important habit that needs to be developed and a habit that will save you a lot of down time and frustration.
Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach
Saving Time – Helping Your Customers Make Quick Ordering Decisions
Saving time – Helping your customers make quick ordering decisions can sometimes be very frustrating. Is your customer ordering process taking you too much time away from your production time? I want to talk about how you can cut back on the amount of time that it takes you to help your customers make a final decision.
As embroiderers we want to be able to offer our customers a full range of lettering and design options but in the process of doing so, we sometimes have the tendency to over complicate the process causing us and the customers unneeded frustration. There are 4 simple ways that will help to save time and speed up your customers ordering process.
- Embroidery Design Layout Options
- Limited Lettering Style Options
- Samples Tagged With Ordering Information
- Organized Ordering System
Today we will talk about the first in this series, the Design Layout Options.
Embroidery Design Layout Options
Create several Design Layouts Options for your customer to choose from. By giving your customer choices of different layouts for him to look at before he places his order, you prevent him from asking you to create his logo with several different options for his approval.
These Design Layout Options save time and instills confidence in the customer that you know what you are doing and know what will be the best option for him or his logo.
Create Design Layout Sheets with several design templates that you have you already set up in your embroidery design software. Give each one of these design templates a Style No. When the customer orders a specific style no. you can quickly recall the design template from your system that he has ordered, change the lettering to what he or she is asking for and your design is ready to be sewn out.
You can create two sets of identical design templates, one set to be sewn on woven fabrics and one set to be sewn on knit fabrics. These two sets of Design Layout templates will work for 95% of your customers garment or fabric choices.
Click on the picture and you will see a larger view of the Design Layout Options
In Part 2 of this series, I will talk about Limited Lettering Style Options.
Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach
Part 4-Organizing Your Embroidery Business To Run Smoothly-Shipping & Invoicing Information
In Part 1 of Organizing Your Embroidery Business, I talked about organizing your information that you use in running your embroidery business. In Part 2 I l talked about your customers design information. In Part 3 I talked about your Production process. In Part 4, I will go over the information for Shipping and Invoicing
The completed order, customers order form and production form goes to shipping. The shipping information is added to the production form. This shipping information includes the weights of boxes, shipping costs and time allowed for this process. The packing slip is filled out with all of the items listed that are being shipped to the customer. A copy is then made of the packing slip and attached to the production form and customers order. These forms are all sent to billing.
The person doing the invoicing pulls the original customer order and uses the production form to do the invoicing. The production form is then detached and goes back to the production supervisor to be analyzed and see what could or should have been done or what other method could be used to save time and money.
These forms are very important. The original customer order is attached to the invoice created and filed in the accounts receivable drawer. After payment has been received, the paperwork is then filed in a paid file drawer or cabinet inside of the customers file by order number or date.
Organization is not hard, but it does take some time and thought. You need to go through each process of your particular business and put an organization plan together. If you take the time to get fully organized, staying organized is very simple and you will save time in your total business operation.
I hope that this series on Organizing Your Embroidery Business has been helpful. I would like to hear from you about any areas of your business that are troublesome for you to organize.
Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach
Create a Log In Form And Check List For Employee To Log In Embroidery Orders
To expedite your checking in process, create a Log In Form and check list for your employee to use when they are logging in the orders for your embroidery business. Logging in the orders is very important in order to keep complete control of your production process and know exactly what you have in house at all times.
By creating a check list, you can speed up the process and make sure that each step of the logging process is complete and there are no missing pieces within your system.
The check list should include the following:
- Date order was placed
- Customers Name
- Customer PO number
- Job Name or Number
- Quantity of Items in order
- Description of goods –shirts, caps, jacket, etc.
- Date Due
- Other information that is necessary for the nature of your business
As the order is being checked in, it should be the responsibility of the employee to make sure that all of the information on the Log In Form is complete and the order is ready to be placed into process. If one piece of the information is missing, the employee should contact the customer to obtain the missing information. The packing slip that was received with the goods must match the PO from the customer.
This Log In Form is then placed into a 3 ring binder for quick reference. Should it be entered into the computer, absolutely, if you have a system for entering in all of your orders. I have found that having a printed log in form available to view at all times is a simple way to see what you have in house, ready for production at all times.
Whether your order has been input into the computer on a Log In form or written in by hand on the Log In form, a printed copy is very important. When your order is shipped, a line can be drawn through the Customer order on your Log In form to signify that it has been shipped or picked up. This is an easy way to check and see if the order is still in house or has been shipped.
Using a simple system and creating a check list for logging in your orders will help to organize your paper work flow and the production process. You can download the Embroidery Log In Form that I have used for my embroidery business or you can create your own.
Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach
How To Control Production Wastage And Spoilage In Your Embroidery Business!
Learning how to control production wastage and spoilage in your embroidery business is an important step in reducing the total cost of operating your embroidery business. Operators should be required to show the amount of garments that were lost or ruined. This should be part of the production form that they are required to fill out at the end of each completed job. You must also know why the loss occurred. Keeping tracking the causes and the operators can help to reduce the loss and avoid them in the future.
Keeping a chart on a weekly basis of these losses is very valuable. This information can be reviewed at the end of the week and used to help retrain the operators in the areas that they are apparently lacking information. When operators know that they are being tracked, they have a tendency to be more careful and pay closer attention to detail.
Many people say that this is part of your Production Cost! I do not agree with that at all. This is a cost that can be almost eliminated if the employees are trained to pay attention to all of the details. Yes, there is some spoilage when a person first starts to be trained, but they must be trained from the very beginning that this is not acceptable.
Embroidery Industry Standard of Loss
There has been an industry standard for many years of a 2% loss. Many claim that a 2% spoilage rate is acceptable. You may have that in your contract, but many people will not do business with you if you have a spoilage rate that high. If you properly train your operators to be aware of all of the factors that can happen and how to avoid them, your spoilage rate will be greatly reduced.
I created a simple Wastage and Spoilage Report that you can download, print out and use to keep track of the wastage in your embroidery shop. Just click on the blue link and the .pdf file will open up for you. Even if you are a one person shop, this will help you keep track of the costs that your errors create. This is a huge eye opener to everyone!
Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach
Always Get Your Customers Approval Before Starting Their Embroidery Job
Always get your customers approval before starting their embroidery job! This is very important whether it is a new order or a repeat order. This is a step that so many embroiderers overlook and do not want to be bothered with, but many get caught with a job that is finished and the customer is not happy with it. This is a huge mistake that can be totally avoided!
An embroidered sample of the finished design in the correct colors is a must. If you cannot physically give your customer a sample, email a copy in the correct colors and require that he or she reply back to you with an OK. Print out this OK and file it with your job order.
If you have several color combinations on different colored garments, show him the predominate sample in the correct colors and attach a list all of the color sequences for the remaining combinations on another copy of the approval form. Make sure that your form does include all of these color combinations. This is very important. This can help save you many head-aches, time and money. This process will show your customer how organized you are and will help to create confidence in both you and your customer.
Download your copy of the Embroidery Design Customer Approval Form and make copies of it for your future use. If this form does not work for your particular business, create one that will.
Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach
Always Match The Customer’s Original Embroidery Order To The Packing Slip For The Blank Goods
Always match the customer’s original embroidery order to the packing slip as you open up the boxes of blank goods. These blank goods can be dropped off by the customer or be sent to you by the distributor.
If you are a contract embroiderer, your customer should have sent you his order previous to receiving the goods from the distributor or manufacturer.
Sometimes the customer will drop off his order and garments at the same time. As a general rule they never look at the packing slip or check it before they deliver to you. They just assume that what they have received from the manufacturer or distributor is correct.
Many times the original orders will not match the packing slip. If there is a discrepancy in the amounts, sizes or colors, you must find out exactly what you have before you call the distributor or your customer.
If the garments are packed in plastic bags, remove the bags and check the sizes. The size tag on the outside package is not always the size that is marked on the garment. This is the first thing to check.
Lay out all of your garments in stacks by sizes and then count each size. Make a list of each size and amounts. If the colors are not correct list the colors with each size and amount.
Now you can call the distributor or the customer and let them know exactly what you have and what the order states that you should have. I have found, being a contract embroiderer, that my customer will substitute a color or size if the distributor was out of a particular item and forget to write it on the order.
Many times the distributor will substitute a size with another one and will neglect to state this on the packing slip. The person responsible for picking the order may pick up another size and add it to the order instead of letting you know that you are short that one size.
The number one rule here is to make sure that your order matches the packing slip or find out why it does not before you to any type of production on your product. Once it is embroidered, you cannot exchange or replace an item.
Do you have problems with customer orders not being correct?
Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach
