Dealer portal or WhatsApp orders: when to switch

It is worth being fair to WhatsApp before replacing anything. Every dealer has it, nobody needs training, and a voice note from a dealer standing in their shop is about as easy as ordering gets. It carries the relationship too: the dealer feels he is talking to you, not filling in a form. For a business with a few dozen dealers and one experienced person handling orders, WhatsApp can work well for years.

The cracks appear as the business grows, and they are usually expensive before they are visible.

• Missed orders. An order sent at 9 pm sits under forty other messages by morning. Nobody notices until the dealer calls, annoyed.
• Wrong prices. Dealers order from a price list sent months ago, or a scheme that has ended, and the dispute arrives with the invoice.
• No credit check. The order is accepted and dispatched before anyone checks that the dealer is already past their limit or overdue.
• No history. What did this dealer order last Diwali? Which items does he stop buying in summer? The answer is buried in a chat.
• Retyping. Every order is typed again into a register, Excel or Tally, and each retyping is a chance for a mistake.
• One phone. When the person handling orders is on leave, or leaves, the order book goes with them.

A dealer portal is a login for each dealer, on the phone or a computer, where ordering follows your rules automatically.

• A catalogue showing that dealer's own prices, discounts and active schemes, so the price is right before the order is placed.
• Availability or stock shown at the time of ordering, so dealers do not order what you cannot send.
• Credit limit and outstanding shown alongside the order, with orders above the limit held for approval.
• Order history and one-tap reorder of a previous order.
• Order status from received to dispatched, so dealers stop calling to ask.
• Invoices and the dealer's ledger available to download, which cuts down on reconciliation calls.
• Your field salespeople can place orders on a dealer's behalf from the same portal.

Behind the portal, orders land in one place for your office, godown and accounts, and invoices can be posted to Tally. Our guide on Tally and custom software explains how that works.

You do not have to choose one or the other. The arrangement that works best for most distributors keeps WhatsApp for what it is good at, conversation and alerts, and moves the order itself into the portal.

• Dealers receive order confirmations, dispatch alerts with vehicle details, and payment reminders through WhatsApp Business.
• Each message carries a link that opens the order or ledger in the portal.
• Dealers who still prefer to send orders on WhatsApp can, and your staff enter them in the portal on their behalf, so every order is in one record whichever way it arrived.

Over a few months, most dealers move to the portal on their own, because reordering there is quicker than typing a list.

• Orders are missed or delayed more than once or twice a month.
• Price or scheme disputes come up with invoices every week.
• Goods have gone to dealers who were already over their credit limit.
• You have more dealers than one person can comfortably handle on a phone.
• Your salespeople spend their visits taking orders instead of finding new dealers.
• You want to see orders, dispatch and dues by dealer and area without asking anyone.

If three or more of these are true, a portal will usually pay for itself in fewer disputes and fewer missed orders.

• Start with your most active dealers and have your salesperson set up the login on the dealer's phone during a visit.
• Load each dealer's prices, schemes and opening balance correctly before launch; one wrong price on day one costs a lot of trust.
• Keep accepting WhatsApp orders during the change, entered by staff into the portal.
• Make reordering easier on the portal than anywhere else.

As a guide, a dealer portal takes six to ten weeks to build, and is then hosted and maintained under our AMC. See what we build for distributors and wholesalers, and how order taking fits into a wider CRM or ERP when you are ready to go fully digital.