An engineer needs a part today. His company has no account with the supplier who has it in stock. The website offers a trade account application with a three-day approval process, and no obvious way to simply buy the thing.
He buys elsewhere, and the supplier loses not just the order but the account that would have followed it.
What buyers ask
Buyers usually ask how to open an account, whether they need a credit account or can pay by card, what documents and references are needed, how long approval takes, what credit limit they can expect, what the payment terms are, whether they can order before the account is open, how to add colleagues to an account and whether pricing changes once an account exists.
Example conversations
These scripts use information a supplier might publish. Your answers should come from your own pages.
Buyer: We need this today but have no account with you. Assistant: You can order immediately as a card customer while an account is set up, and the page explains how. The trade account application needs the company details and trade references listed, with approval usually within the timescale shown. Could you share the part and quantity so the team can check stock?
Buyer: What credit terms do you offer? Assistant: The accounts page explains the standard payment terms, how credit limits are set and how they can be reviewed as trading builds up.
Buyer: Can I add our other engineers to the account? Assistant: Yes. The page explains how additional users are added, including whether each has their own login and how ordering permissions are set.
Always offer an immediate route
The single most valuable line on a trade account page is that urgent orders can be placed today while the account is processed. Machine-down buyers convert instantly, and account applications follow naturally afterwards.
Explain credit assessment honestly
New companies and sole traders often assume they will be refused. Explaining that new accounts may start on proforma terms, with credit reviewed after a trading history, keeps them rather than sending them away.
Approval timescales
Publishing how long approval takes, and what speeds it up, prevents the application stalling in the way described in trade account applications that stall.
Pricing once an account exists
Buyers want to know whether account pricing differs from the prices shown publicly, and how volume affects it. Explaining that account holders see their agreed pricing when logged in, and how price breaks work, gives a clear reason to complete the application rather than continuing to order ad hoc.
Distributors and resellers
Some account enquiries are really partnership enquiries, which need different qualification, as described in distributor and reseller enquiries worth qualifying.
Identification questions first
Many buyers cannot order because they cannot identify what they need, which is the problem covered in part number and compatibility questions for industrial suppliers.
Ordering methods once open
Trade buyers order in different ways: a website login, email, a trade counter or a regular scheduled order. Explaining which methods are available, and whether pricing and account history are visible across all of them, helps a buyer fit you into how their business already works rather than forcing them to change.
Screening enquiries
A few early questions route account enquiries to the right team, in the way described in receptionist screening questions.
Getting started
Publish account requirements, approval timescales, credit terms and the immediate ordering route, then answer at any hour. SpideyChat for manufacturers and suppliers answers from your published pages. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about answers on the features page.