A sales transaction begins when a customer sends a request or order to the seller to purchase certain goods or services. An order is a form of communication by the buyer to the seller expressing the former’s desire to buy the latter’s goods. Whether it may be in a specific format or not, an order is important not just to request an item or service but also to document the transaction.
An order provides the description and details of the product to be purchased including the quantity, color, size, and weight, if any. Companies may provide their own order forms for their customers to fill out and to have a uniformity of orders. However, it is not commonly known by most entities that they can also use their order forms to increase brand awareness.
As stated above, companies may create their own order forms and provide them to the customers for uniformity of order forms. Moreover, through an order form, they can be assured that the customer will provide the complete order details provided that they have already given the format. Typically, in an order form, the following are present:
1. Item details: The specific details of the goods or services must be completely provided by the buyer in order not confuse an item from the other. Companies can easily respond to an order if there is a complete detail or information of the item or service being ordered. The complete details usually needed by the seller are the following:
2. Shipping details: Typically, in a product order transaction, the items are shipped by a carrier from the seller’s warehouse to the location of the buyer. The customer may indicate in the order form his or her desired shipping, but this can be subject to modifications as agreed by both parties. These are the important shipping details that must be present in an order form:
3. Payment information: The payment information such as the mode of payment, the name of the payor, and the account number must be stated in the customer order. It is recommended that the seller and the buyer must agree on the mode of payment first before the customer makes an order to avoid multiple revisions of the form. Note that it is the duty of the seller to provide payment options to the buyer; on the other hand, the buyer must choose from those available options and state his or her choice on the order.
By now, you have already understood how important it is to have an order form. Generally, business entities used it so they can immediately have the complete information ordered by the buyer. All the same, through order forms, they can establish the brand of their company by incorporating their company logo or any other branding elements. So, it is important to create an order form that is formal and presentable since it represents the personality of your business.
Here is how you can create a well-crafted order form:
1. Know what information you need: Although the elements are the same in any type of purchase order form, companies may ask the customers for some specific information by providing a space in the order form to be filled out by the customer. What information must they give you so you can immediately look for and prepare the item being ordered? Item color, quantity, and size are among the details that must be provided by the buyer to the seller. Moreover, you must also come up with an agreement regarding the shipping of the product, mode of payment, and who will handle the freight costs.
2. Choose a template: Definitely, templates are lifesavers. They help the authorized person in creating an order form fast and easy, hence a time-saving option. There are a lot of templates you can find on the Internet such as those presented above. Choose a template that suits your purpose, and select a file format that is fitting for your order form needs. There are different template styles and formats, so make sure you choose the best style that best represents your personality. You can save your template file on your local drive so you can use it in the future.
3. Edit the template: Templates are created for general purposes, so make sure that you customize your document according to the needs of your entity. You can input necessary data and other specific information such as the name of your company, address, and contact information such as email address or phone number. Moreover, since order forms can also be used to boost your branding, you may incorporate your logo design and other branding elements that bring brand awareness so that people will be familiarized with your branding. You can also adjust the layout of the template as you desire.
4. Finalize before printing: Finally, recheck everything—your elements, layout, and the information you incorporate in your template to ensure that there are no errors and missed items. Make sure that you carefully review the entire document so you would not overlook any mistakes for this may affect the credibility of your company.
When talking about orders, we are basically referring to purchase orders made by the buyer and sent to the seller. Purchase orders come in different types, and the discretion on what type to use depends on the nature of the business or the decision of the upper management. Typically, a purchase order is categorized as follows:
Below are the frequently and commonly asked questions regarding orders.
Business companies usually provide their customers an order form in order to take the complete information about their orders. When orders are made by the customer through the use of another format, there are tendencies that some details are missed. However, both order forms, whether created by the seller or not, provide information regarding the product details as well as shipping details that are necessary for the seller to process the customer orders.
Once the seller accepts the purchase order, a contract that is valid and binding is formed between the seller and the buyer. This is enforceable in court and can be used as legal evidence in case of disputes. Thus, this document must be carefully written in order to avoid confusion and misunderstanding between the two parties. Have a look at purchase agreement contract forms.
Although it is typical for the seller to provide a purchase order form to the buyer, the buyer is the one creating the order by filling out the order form and sending it to the seller. An invoice, on the other hand, is created by the seller in response to the order from the buyer and then sent to the buyer providing a summary of the goods ordered by the buyer and any other information related to the transaction.