NEWS

The More You Know: Order Placement

Welcome to the second installment of The More You Know – a series where we go step by step through our furniture project process and give full insight into how we transform workspaces around the country. All projects are different – especially those in specialized industries like healthcare or education – but this is a good place to start to better understand what happens behind the scenes at RJE. Read below to see how order placement occurs and stay tuned for more!

After the design process is complete, how does your order get placed? Our trusted team of Sales Coordinators will escort you through the next step with ease. Here’s what you can expect for a standard corporate project:

Step One: Develop Budget Quote

Based on the design you decided upon with your RJE Account Executive and our design team, those product specifications will be sent over to the Sales Coordinator to create a budget quote. A budget quote is impacted by several different components:

  • The products chosen by the client, the A&D firm, RJE or some combination thereof
  • RJE’s discount from the product manufacturers
  • Freight charges for shipping
  • Delivery and installation, based on the complexity and scope of your project

The Sales Coordinator works with internal RJE team members and different manufacturer representatives to procure this information. From there, they work within our budgeting software system to calculate a budget quote. Once that is document is prepared, the Sales Coordinator will forward it to the client for review.

Step Two: Finalize Quote

It’s pretty rare for a preliminary budget quote to become a final quote without any edits or updates. Project details are always changing and so are client needs! After an initial budget quote is sent to the client, A&D firm or both, the RJE Account Executive will review the document in detail to discuss any changes. Changes can include anything from:

  • Increasing or decreasing product quantities
  • Removing a product entirely
  • Changing a layout
  • Updates to power locations
  • Detail changes like adding a tackboard or a monitor arm to a workstation

After this refinement stage, you’ll work with your Account Executive and RJE Designer to finalize finishes for your selected product. (This stage was also discussed in the Design Process post found here.) After the fabrics and finishes are determined, the Designer sends that information to the Sales Coordinator, who then adds it into your final quote.

Once a quote has been finalized, the Sales Coordinator or Account Executive will send it to the client to issue a purchase order or sign-off on the quote directly. Once a PO or signed quote is received, the Sales Coordinator will let our Accounting Department know that you’re ready to receive a deposit invoice. At this point, your product is ready to be ordered!

Step Three: Order Placement

At this stage, the Sales Coordinator is now ready to process the project as a final order. Based on the solutions selected, they will send purchase orders to each respective manufacturer. We represent more than 100 manufacturers at RJE and processes vary between each, so our Sales Coordinators develop excellent rapports with our manufacturer representatives to ensure our clients enjoy a timely, efficient process.

After the manufacturer acknowledges the order, it will take anywhere from 48 hours to seven days for them to process. At that point, your order has been placed and starts the next phase of our process – Manufacturing, Shipping and Warehousing! 

So, is the process complete for the Sales Coordinator?

Not so fast! Our Sales Coordinators do a million little things in between tasks to keep our process flowing. Our Sales Coordinators assess projects for complexity to determine if a project requires full support from a Project Manager. During this assessment, they consider things like:

  • Phased installations
  • Building location and conditions
  • Reconfigurations and more

Additionally, our Sales Coordinator works directly with our Scheduling team to get your installation on the calendar. After an order has been placed, they will work with manufacturers to procure final ship dates. Once these final ship dates are received, the Sales Coordinator or Project Manager will compile to determine an installation date or timeframe, dependent on the project scope.

Stay tuned for the next installment of The More You Know to learn about the Manufacturing, Shipping & Warehousing.

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