Challenges
In 2022, a contact who had worked at another of our Pegasus Opera clients had moved employment and joined Complete Pool Controls Limited (CPC). He reached out and asked us to provide Pegasus Opera software support for his new company. During our early conversations with CPC, it was clear they needed a better way for their customers to place orders, ideally online with 24/7 access. This was complicated by each customer having quite individual and complex pricing structures.
CPC supplies chemicals needed to keep hot tubs and swimming pools safe and clean. Previously, customers would place an order either online via a website or over the phone, and the CPC team would manually input these orders into their accounting system to process and complete the sale. This process was very time-consuming and prone to user input error.
CPC has a complex pricing structure, with customer specific pricing and discounts offered in tiered structures. With its existing system, the CPC team had to spend a lot of time reviewing, maintaining and updating customer prices individually and when the Covid-19 pandemic hit it de-stabilised their market and staying on top of all the resultant pricing changes became an even bigger issue. Although the CPC team had gone to great lengths to keep their customers up to date with pricing changes, many customers were confused when their confirmed price was different from the price they had seen in their order cart when they had initially placed the order on the CPC website.
When CPC were looking to rebuild their website, they turned to us to help implement a new platform that would take care of online orders and simplify the price updating process.
Solution
We recommended our CKM2 solution, a secure customer ordering portal that links directly to the customer’s Pegasus Opera account and pricing structure which vastly reduced many of the current manual processes. Customers have their own account on this new CPC web-based portal, allowing them to see their prices, see images of the stock they are ordering, copy and place orders and download their current statement of account that is fed directly from Pegasus Opera. The CPC team can maintain and amend prices in bulk in Pegasus Opera and these are reflected real-time on the portal, making upkeep of the customer pricing much simpler, quicker and far less erroneous giving one source of truth for this important data.
To help CPC get up to speed with using the new CKM2 portal software, we created a test account that would give them a few weeks to see, use and familiarise themselves with all the functions on the portal.
It allowed them the opportunity to test changing the prices in real time to ensure all the bases were covered. We also created some user manuals: one to guide the CPC team with the functionality they needed to maintain CKM2 and another manual that CPC could give to their customers to show them the steps to register on the portal, place orders and review their account.
Since implementing CKM2, we have worked closely with CPC to tailor the portal even further to enhance their customers’ experience. Examples of this new functionality includes building a feature for user-definable product and company news that displays when customers login as well as user-definable messages that flag to customers when they need to order to get next day delivery.
Result
CKM2 is improving the customer experience for Complete Pool Controls Limited. Customers can place an order 24/7 and receive automatic order confirmations, relieving pressure on the customer services team and reducing processing and pricing errors. Customers can also see their live account status and quickly repeat previous orders, making it easier for them to self-serve.
At the same time, CKM2 is saving time for the CPC team as there is less administration to complete, they can be confident that their prices are up to date, and the customer service team can focus on answering queries and following up enquiries rather than taking and entering sales orders.
We have worked with our contact at Complete Pool Controls Limited for many years, but we were newly introduced to the business itself and the CKM2 integration is strengthening our relationship, and we remain in close partnership.
About CPC
Swimming pool chemicals supplier Complete Pool Controls Ltd is a leading independent supplier of recreational water treatment chemicals, equipment and services.
Specialising in supplying swimming pool and hot tub chemicals to both trade and professional shops and leading commercial customers, they pride themselves in providing total solutions for all swimming pool and hot tub needs.
The Complete Solution incorporates an attractive and innovative range of water treatment products, dosing equipment, training and technical support. Everything you could possibly need to help you run your business.
“Implementing the CKM2 ordering system with CK Systems has transformed our process, reduced admin time and enhanced the customer experience. The seamless integration with real-time pricing and account management has been invaluable. Their support and expertise have made a real difference. Highly recommended!”