The line is down. The parts call cannot wait for Monday.

Most of what rings an industrial supplier is a maintenance team that knows the part number and needs to know it is on the shelf. Ava answers those at any hour, and your counter keeps the technical questions.

Boyne Foods, 21:15A parts call, answered by Ava
Answered
  1. Picked up on the second ring
  2. “Have you a 6205 bearing on the shelf?”Kevin, Boyne Foods
  3. Checked the shelf
    6205 bearing × 4In stockAfter hours
Written up for your team
Order
4 × 6205 bearings
Ready
At the counter, 7am tomorrow
Sent
Confirmation emailed at 21:16
What your phone rings about

Mostly a part number and a question.

Incoming call Mon, 08:52
“Have you a 6205 bearing on the shelf?”
Incoming call Tue, 11:20
“Can you get two of those belts out to us today?”
Incoming call Wed, 15:47
“What is our price on the cutting discs, on account?”
Incoming call Thu, 17:35
“Is the order from Tuesday on the van yet?”
Ava, inbound

What she does with them

  • Answers the stock, part number and order status questions out of what you have written down and what is on your online shop.
  • Sends the quote to their inbox while they are still on the phone, so they are not ringing the next supplier on the list.
  • Writes the call up and emails it to the desk it belongs to, with anything that needs a person marked for one.
  • Keeps doing it at six in the evening, on a Saturday and over Christmas, when the order would otherwise have gone elsewhere.
On your line day and night, weekends included
Sarah, outbound

What she does about the ledger

  • Works through the accounts that have run past terms and asks for a date, starting by email.
  • Gets firmer every round nobody answers, inside your hours and never off her own judgement.
  • Stops the day it is paid, and hands the account back to you when it is beyond asking.
Inside your hours, and never off her own judgement