Ask a tire wholesaler how dealers order and the answer is usually: by phone, by e-mail, by messenger, and some in the shop. Ask what a phone order costs and the answer is usually a shrug. The phone is there anyway, and so is the team.
That is exactly why the cost stays hidden. It is not on an invoice. It sits in the time of the people who take the call, type the order and answer the next call about where it is.
Two people for one order
A phone order needs one person who takes it and one who enters it, or one person who does both and is not available for the next caller meanwhile. Questions about price, stock and credit come on top, and each of them means a look into the ERP while the dealer waits on the line.
The busiest hour is the worst hour
Dealers call when they have a customer in the workshop: in the morning, and in the weeks of the seasonal tire change all day. That is when your team is busiest and the risk of a typing error in a size or an article number is highest. A wrong tire costs a return, a second delivery and some trust.
What the phone does not tell you
The most expensive part is invisible. When a dealer asks for a size you do not have, the call ends and nobody writes it down. You do not learn which tires dealers looked for and did not buy, which brands they asked about, or which dealer has quietly started to order elsewhere.
Measure before you change anything
Orders by channel
Count for two weeks how many orders arrive by phone, e-mail, messenger and shop. A tally sheet is enough.
Calls per order
Note how many follow-up calls an order causes: status, delivery date, invoice copy.
Time to confirmation
Measure the time from the call to the order being confirmed in the ERP.
Moving routine orders online
The goal is not to switch off the phone. The goal is that routine orders no longer need it. When dealers see their own prices, terms and checked stock, they order themselves, 24/7, on the web or in an app in your brand. The order lands in the same place as the phone orders, with status, delivery date and documents, so the follow-up call is no longer needed.
And for the first time you see what the phone never showed: searches without a result, abandoned carts, and what each dealer looked for but did not buy. That is a reason for the next call that your field sales team can actually use.
Where to start
Start with the dealers who order often and in small quantities. They feel the benefit first, and they free the most time on your side. A two-week friendly-customer launch with a small group shows what works before the shop opens for everyone.
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