Sales Rep Handover for Trade Buyers on WhatsApp
This recipe decides when a buyer conversation needs a person, and gets it to the right sales rep with the details already collected. It covers credit terms, special prices, large projects, unhappy key accounts and new trade account enquiries. Set it up before any other supplier workflow goes live. Part of the B2B supplier workflows.
What happens today
A long-standing account’s buyer writes “your price for cable trays went up again, a competitor is quoting 8% lower, can you match it?”. The message lands in a general inbox. Customer service replies with the list price. The buyer, who wanted a conversation with their rep, takes the order elsewhere. The rep finds out at the end of the month.
The flow that works
- AeroChat recognises a conversation that needs a person: a negotiation, a large or unusual order, an unhappy buyer, or a new company wanting an account.
- It finds the account’s sales rep from the customer record in your system, or the rep for new enquiries.
- It collects what the rep needs: the products, quantities, the price or terms asked for, and the deadline.
- It hands the conversation to the rep with a short summary, tags it, and notifies them on the AeroChat mobile app.
- It tells the buyer who will reply and when.
AeroChat never agrees to a price, terms or a credit limit. It makes sure the rep hears about the request the same day.
The recipe
Copy this into AeroChat
In every buyer conversation, watch for these and follow these steps.
- Hand over to the account’s sales rep if the buyer asks for credit terms or a longer payment period, a higher credit limit, a special price, a price match, a discount, or an order above US$10,000 (example). Also hand over for a project tender, an exclusive or contract supply, or if the buyer is unhappy with us, says they are moving to another supplier, or complains about a rep.
- If the contact is not on any customer record in our system and wants to buy, collect their company name, company registration number, what they buy, expected monthly volume and delivery location, and hand over to the new accounts rep.
- Before handing over, collect what the rep needs: products and quantities, the price or terms asked for, any competitor price mentioned, and when they need an answer.
- Hand the conversation to the sales rep on the customer record, with a one-line summary. Tag it “negotiation”, “new account” or “at risk”.
- Tell the buyer: “I have passed this to [rep name], who will reply by the end of today (example).”
Never agree to a price, discount, terms, credit limit or delivery commitment. Never criticise a competitor. Pause any other workflow in the conversation until the rep has replied. Reply in the buyer’s language.
Change the example order value and response time to your own before you paste it.
What to connect
- Your accounting or ERP system, for the sales rep on each customer record. Xero, QuickBooks Online or Oracle NetSuite connect through their APIs: approve AeroChat’s access in Xero or QuickBooks Online when AeroChat asks, or for NetSuite, have your administrator create an access token for AeroChat and paste it in. Name the rep for new enquiries in the recipe.
- AeroChat’s handover and tags. Add each rep as a team member and make sure they have the AeroChat mobile app with notifications on.
- Email. Connect Gmail or Office 365 so a negotiation that moves from WhatsApp to email stays in one conversation history.
- Your CRM. If you use one with a public API, AeroChat can add new account enquiries to it.
Using a different system? If it has a public API, it connects to AeroChat the same way: describe what you want, paste in its key, and it runs.
Can’t find your tool? Message us in the chat on this page and we’ll tell you how it connects.
What you still decide
- The order value above which a person always takes over.
- Who covers each rep’s accounts when they are on leave.
- Which details you need before opening a new trade account.
- Which tags you review each week, such as “at risk”.
The result to expect
Negotiations and unhappy buyers reach the right rep the same day, with the details collected, instead of getting a list price reply from a general inbox. New account enquiries are qualified before a rep spends time on them. The “at risk” tag gives you a weekly list of accounts to call.
Measure it with your own numbers: time from request to rep reply, and new accounts opened from chat enquiries, for a month before and after you start.
Next: product and stock questions. See also live chat handover.
Set up the handover first
Add your reps, paste the recipe and send your own number a request for 60-day terms to check it reaches the right rep.
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On Shopify? Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store.