How Do You Handle Special Orders in Your Pet Business?

question:

What do you all do for special orders? A google doc page? Do they have to prepay? — Celine Gregory, The Raw Pet Company, Superior, CO

• Special-order slips go into a little box. When they are ordered, the slips get paper clipped to the purchase order and go into a filing cabinet. When the truck comes, we get the purchase orders and slips. The items get pulled and put onto our special-order shelving unit. The slips get put onto a clipboard, and a staff member calls all of the special order people. Those slips then get taped to the item in the hold bin. Once the person comes and gets their item, the slip is either thrown away or if it’s a reoccurring order, goes back into the box. — Holly Mason, Petz Place, Philadelphia, OH
• Google spreadsheet with customer, phone, date, product and if they’ve been contacted. I suggest prepayment just because people don’t always come get the order right away and you don’t want to be out that money for longer than necessary. But if the distributor is out of stock, customers can get upset. I would only do it with products you can get reliably. — Brian Sharp, Earth Pets Gainesville, FL
• Small order forms. I put in orders and call people when they come in. If they want to do a special order on a regular basis, my POS can print an extra receipt when they pick up and I automatically re-order. — Danyle Morse, Claremont Pet & Aquarium Center, Claremont, NH
• Microsoft OneNote! Relatively easy to keep organized and has a handy search function. We keep tabs organized by month, note the customer name, phone number, employee initials, and when the order has been completed. Separate tab for reoccurring special orders. — Lauren Davis, The Pet Works, Longview, WA
• Phone message books that make a duplicate. Write special order with customer’s name and phone number, whether it was paid in advance, other notes. When it’s in, we tape the top sheet to the product and call. Old school, but it works for us. — Tonya Christiansen, Must Love Dogs, Grand Haven, MI