SAM

[JoY]

I would like to see the discount (if any) showing on the receipt/quote, so that the customer can see what they've saved. It would seem more like a genuine saving then.



PS.I heard that some advisors have SAM and are still faxing their orders off!! WHY??

Even if I resort to a paper order in the house when it gets a bit complicated, ( "...er...not sure if we want Romans or venetians, maybe in pink , maybe green....possibly in here, or maybe just in here"), I still put the order through on SAM when i get home, or have five minutes before the next job. ;D

[dolly]

Is anyone else getting phone calls from FSM asking why SAM isnt being used more for ordering?
My FSM seems obsessed with this and rings almost weekly on the subject giving a percentage of orders used against paper orders.
I still think Hillarys receive a percentage from VODAFONE each time we use it, otherwise what does it matter we bought the bleeding things.

[blindsfitter]

dolly said:

Is anyone else getting phone calls from FSM asking why SAM isnt being used more for ordering?
My FSM seems obsessed with this and rings almost weekly on the subject giving a percentage of orders used against paper orders.
I still think Hillarys receive a percentage from VODAFONE each time we use it, otherwise what does it matter we bought the bleeding things.

Yes I got this half an hour ago--when I got back.


I had a pointed conversation based on the fact that an order is an order is an order, and what the hell does it matter whether it comes in on SAM or Paper or by carrier pigeon??

I was told that soon paper orders will not be processed at all, and the call was merely to draw m,y attention to the fact that I had too many paper orders and to "get my act together"...
"We supply the order paper for SAM, you dont have to buy that you know, and why should we .... wait for it....

" Have to employ clerks and pay tax and NIC on them when you can SAM the order straight in to the system. We have to provide full emplioyee benefits for them and rest periods and cover blah blah.."

So I shouted it down and said " SO YOU WANT ME TO DO ALL THAT FOR B***ER ALL DO YOU AND SAVE HILLARYS EVEN MORE MONEY"

"Yes" it replied"WE dont have to pay you any benefits at all" That makes a huge difference to our Corporate year-end bottom line..

To me that tone really shows the Head Office under current feeling existing against us agents

Grab Grab Grab Thats all Hillarys are good for Why dont they try making decent blinds for a change???
THAT WOULD MAKE AN EVEN BIGGER DIFFERENCE TO THEIR BOTTOM LINE......

It beggars belief---now wheres that competitors address someone emailed me last week??

Blindsfitter

[grumperbear]

l have not been getting phone calls from thingy, but l did get a letter from him some time ago, that stated

.............." the only purpose of having Sam was so that they (Hillarys) could use less staff to input data, these staff could then be used in service support"..........so that l could get through quicker.

Sam and the printer are mine, l paid for them, and l will use it as l wish.

lf they supplied Sam etc, then it would be different.

[desmorse]

I'm amazed anyone's surprised by this.
Why do you think Hillarys spent an awful lot of money developing the software. It wasn't for fun, to make us look good, or speed up delivery. It was to save money.
Think of the labour involved in a paper order............
collated from fax machine
passed to credit control who process payment
passed to order entry for inputting
maybe passed to order query
passed to diary maintenance for fit booking

All of these manual inputs are prone to errors, which we all complain about bitterly.

SAM is designed to eliminate all of the above labour costs and associated DOR costs. That's why Hillarys developed it.

Personally I use it all the time because it saves me faffing about with order forms, faxes, and arguing that it was definitely a 5 when it left here and obviously not an 8, which is why blind doesn't fit. And no it's not my error but I'm still going to get charged £20 for it.

Remember around this time last year Melissa suggesting there won't be any room for non SAM advisors by Easter? Well, in Hillarys time frame, sounds like Easter is just arriving

[dolly]

ON the subject of paper. I received a new order pad today with the renewal / request form for next time removed. Could be coincidence but it would also be a first.

[JoY]

dolly said:

ON the subject of paper. I received a new order pad today with the renewal / request form for next time removed. Could be coincidence but it would also be a first.

No.........that will be to save the cost of printing that first page!! ;D

[scotton]

Doing away with order npads would be stupid. I dislike Sam and always have but I use whenever possible even on self generation. However sold a customer symphony cream last night I had all out of stock reports with me went to put in Sam ... unavailable since 24 august.
told the customer what situation was picked a fallback fabric. Ranng service support they agreed no problem with material. spoke again to serrvice support this am who rang materials again no problem with material. Rang IT for aassistance after request of latest information still not available from August 24. Paper order has now been submitted. what are we supposed to tel customers they cant have it because the machine says no when we know its wrong. Imay not like Sam but it does speed up delivery but i still would keep paper order forms as a back up.

[Bear]

doggy said:

Doing away with order npads would be stupid. I dislike Sam and always have but I use whenever possible even on self generation. However sold a customer symphony cream last night I had all out of stock reports with me went to put in Sam ... unavailable since 24 august.
told the customer what situation was picked a fallback fabric. Ranng service support they agreed no problem with material. spoke again to serrvice support this am who rang materials again no problem with material. Rang IT for aassistance after request of latest information still not available from August 24. Paper order has now been submitted. what are we supposed to tel customers they cant have it because the machine says no when we know its wrong. Imay not like Sam but it does speed up delivery but i still would keep paper order forms as a back up.

Yeah, but no,but yeah but no, but yeah like no COMPUTER SAYS NOOOOO!!

Excerpt from "Little Notingham!"

[RED]

doggy said:

Doing away with order npads would be stupid. I dislike Sam and always have but I use whenever possible even on self generation. However sold a customer symphony cream last night I had all out of stock reports with me went to put in Sam ... unavailable since 24 august.
told the customer what situation was picked a fallback fabric. Ranng service support they agreed no problem with material. spoke again to serrvice support this am who rang materials again no problem with material. Rang IT for aassistance after request of latest information still not available from August 24. Paper order has now been submitted. what are we supposed to tel customers they cant have it because the machine says no when we know its wrong. Imay not like Sam but it does speed up delivery but i still would keep paper order forms as a back up.

Paper order pads will always be needed as a backup system. For instance, what if the network goes down for a long period. What if a advisor's Sam breaks down. Is he going to do no work whilst he waits for a replacement. Their are many reasons why a paper order system should not be scrapped totally.
One of the golden rules of using a computer is to always keep a hard copy of important work in case of system failure. Their is a very good reason for that as any one that has lost valuable work will know.

Red

[blindmansam]

Email notification via FSM about a SAM problem.........


> Sent: 15 January 2007 11:50
> To: UK Sales
> Cc: CLC Team Leaders; Rudie Stewart
> Subject: SAM problem
>
> Hi
>
> There is currently a problem with the outcome codes being used on SAM by advisors. They use SAM to notify the call centre team leaders that they either the customer was not in (E01) or they cannot attend an appointment (E02). The team leaders receive the notification by email.
> At the moment this is not happening, so we are not aware of any of these issues. IT are looking into fixing the problem. In the meantime could you ask your advisors to do the following.
>
> * Customer not in - Call Advisor Diary Support (0800 3280234) to notify them
> * Cannot attend appointment - Advisor to call customer to notify them and try and rearrange the appointment.
>
>
> As soon as we know that IT problem is fixed, I will notify you.
>
> Thanks
> Trev

[Blind Scout]

blindmansam said:

Email notification via FSM about a SAM problem.........

> Sent: 15 January 2007 11:50
> To: UK Sales
> Cc: CLC Team Leaders; Rudie Stewart
> Subject: SAM problem
>
> Hi
>
> There is currently a problem with the outcome codes being used on SAM by advisors. They use SAM to notify the call centre team leaders that they either the customer was not in (E01) or they cannot attend an appointment (E02). The team leaders receive the notification by email. ....

>
> Thanks
> Trev

This email should have been sent to all advisors/agents directly on the SAM device, and we should all know.

Maybe it was the reason I got a bit of grief from a customer yesterday, as the advisor who was scheduled to go to her last Saturday, didn't turn up, and she complained she had stayed in all day. However, it is common curtesy, to call a customer whether running late or cannot make the appointment, well it is in my book.

On the system upgrade over Christmas, apart from the obvious changes in the layout, to the daily diary and weekly tracking reports, what other benefits has this upgrade given?

[blindmansam]

As if by magic - there is a new upgrade ready for SAM !

This will be the fix for the customer data glitch.

Really impressed by hillary's IT dept , speed to put this right.


Things are looking up!

[desmorse]

Another glitch discovered today.

Check your order list on SAM. If you have "Order" rather than a SAP number in the Type column, the order has failed. You'll need to contact ICT

[blindmansam]

desmorse said:

Another glitch discovered today.

Check your order list on SAM. If you have "Order" rather than a SAP number in the Type column, the order has failed. You'll need to contact ICT

Thanks for that Info !

Just checked , and one order from 11th Jan not on system ! Rang in to sort it out !