Particle Handling -- An Overview

Particle Entry Series #2

July 21, 1997

Revised:  December 20, 2006 9:33 PM

Last Revised:  May 23, 2012 4:50 PM

 

The purpose of this Company Policy is to provide a broad overview of the Particle Entry System in our Company. The term "particle" is defined here and must be studied as part of any futher study of any of the Company Policies in this "Particle Entry Series" group of Company Policies.

When a customer calls us on the phone, and places an order, the information in the telephone conversation is a "particle."  That information should be recorded on paper, and parts of that information must be entered into the computer.

Let's say that John Staff Member receives the phone call, from Pete Customer.  John makes notes on a scratch pad.  Pete orders some products and gives us his credit card number.  He also remarks that his wife just turned 73 years old and asks us to send information to his friend Jim.  John gets all this data briefly noted on the scratch paper. 

Now, John should be the one to take this piece of paper and make a formal entry of an "incoming particle received" in the computer records.  The specific details of how that is done are covered in other Policies in this Series.  But, the main point here is that John receives the incoming call, writes some notes on a piece of paper, and then makes an "entry" of information into the computer.

If John is not going to be the one to make the computer entry, then his hand-written notes need to be sufficiently clear and detailed that someone else CAN make that computer entry.

The computer program allows us, if we wish, to print a piece of paper showing information about the customer, including some of the information that may have just been entered.  This piece of paper is called, in our Company, a Routing Form.

It's called a Routing Form because this piece of paper MOVES from here to there, within the Company.  The computer may have also printed a letter of acknowledgement to the customer, or a form letter, or some other documents.  Some of these might be stapled to the Routing Form, others might be paper clipped to the Routing Form.  The original scratch pad paper could be stapled to the Routing Form. 

At some point the same person, John, or another, might take this Routing Form, with whatever papers are attached, and prepare a shipping label, or some other document to become part of the packet of information now moving along with the "particle."

You could say that the "particle" IS the Routing Form, and all the attachments.

The process of entering the information into the computer may have recorded a sale, made a change in an address, prepared a credit card transaction to be sent to the credit card Service Bureau -- or whatever.

All these actions relate to this one particle.  All those pieces of paper relate to this one particle.

Our Company is made up of staff members who receive and handle particles.  We use Routing Forms as a central administrative tool to organize all the pieces of paper that belong with one particle.

The Routing Form, and some attached papers, may move from one desk to another, or to an area where packages are prepared for shipping. 

Some pieces of paper, formerly attached to the Routing Form, might be disconnected, folded into an envelope and mailed to someone, or they might be placed inside a box being prepared to ship bottles of vitamins to the customer.

So, as a particle comes in, certain information from that particle will be entered into the computer.  The Staff Member usually requests a printed Routing Form from the computer, and attaches notes and other documents to that Routing Form.

There might be a particle where no Routing Form is needed, and then there won't be one printed by the computer, or it could be thrown away and not filed.

The Routing Form, in turn, is used to keep track of the actions done related to that particle.  Notes can be scribbled on the Routing Form, or papers stapled to it.

Once the vitamins have been shipped, the Routing Form would be marked as "finished," and placed in a basket for filing.

It might be that some of the vitamins are shipped (and appropriately marked on the Routing Form) while some other products are "back ordered," meaning that we will ship them on another day.  Notes about these actions can and should be written onto the Routing Form, or perhaps a separate piece of paper attached to the Routing Form.

The actions that can be done with and to a particle are many and varied.  The places that particle can be moved to (generally with a Routing Form) are also many and varied.  Since each of these particles represents a communication from a prospect or customer, we need to treat them with care, and ensure that each particle is handled exactly according to Company Policy.

You should treat a particle just as if it is the person himself or herself.  In other words, when the customer calls in, we take care to get all the data we need, in written form.  When that customer hangs up, he should be confident that we got all the information and that we will do what he asked us to do.

The incoming call is a particle.  HOW we handle that particle is recorded in the computer and on a piece of paper called a Routing Form. 

The point above was that you should treat the Routing Form just as carefully as if the customer was standing right there, waiting to get his order into his hands.

We care about our customers, and we show our care by caring for the particles and Routing Forms, which are our administrative lifeblood.

 

Official

Karl Loren

 

 

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