Time is money, so how does that actually apply when you need to automate your Credit Note approval process? Generally, a credit note is issued to make any price adjustments or to correct an error. However, if your company has multiple employees that can initiate a credit note, your business must have a command structure so that your managers can review and approve these credit notes. Being able to streamline this credit note approval process will save your employees time, increase your customer’s satisfaction, and ultimately increase the likelihood of your customers continuing their relationship with you.

What Are The Most Common Reasons to Issue Credit Notes to Your Customers?

Your sales or customer service representatives are the first line of employees that will interact with a customer to assess their concerns and initiate a credit note if needed. Here are the most common reasons to issue a credit note to customers:

  • The invoice was incorrect and the wrong amount was paid
  • Your shipment delivered the wrong number of items
  • Your shipment contained faulty or defective items
  • Your shipment contained the incorrect items
  • Giving a customer discount out of good faith
  • Writing off a Customer Short Payment

How Would a Streamlined B2B Credit Note Approval Process Look Like?

When your sales or customer service representative tries to resolve any issues with their customers, they’ll interact with them and try to find a resolution in which two parties come away happy. Of course, the company needs a standard credit note policy in place so that the representative knows the possible amount to offer customers. Once a proposed credit note amount is reached, the credit note is then sent to their department manager for approval. However, without a proper system in place, credit notes will have to be filled out on paper, submitted to the manager, and manually approved by the manager after spending time going through the customer’s files, notes, and case. This entire process can become a hassle without any solution for the customer until hours or days later.

However, if there was a system that could keep track of all customer information, notes, and order history. The representative could negotiate a credit note with the customer and notify the manager so that they can approve the credit note immediately. Here is an example of how to a streamlined Credit Note Approval Process looks like:

1). Customer Support Representative is contacted by the buyer noting that there was a problem with shipment and that the item came damaged.

2). Following company policies, the Customer Support Representative issues the standard 10% credit note to the customer.

3). The credit note is now awaiting approval by the depart manager.

4). The department manager reviews the credit note request quickly as all details about the order is centralized and within a click of a button. Once the credit note is reviewed, the department manager goes ahead and approves the credit note request.

In short, having an automated system in place can allow your sales or customer service representative submit a credit note through the system for the manager’s approval. The manager can easily review the customer’s records and details of the transaction and approve it on the spot. So, instead of spending hours or days approving a single credit note accurately, this entire process can be shortened within minutes. Research shows that anytime when a customer issue is handled quickly and to their satisfaction, their level of customer satisfaction towards your business will also increase. In addition, all notes are recorded in the system so there is no need to follow a paper trail of notes. Having your credit note approval process automated will save your business time, and time is money.

This article originally appeared on Servora Blog and has been republished with permission.

Read more: Using Data from Reports to Improve B2B Customer Support: Part 2