Manufacturing
Taking away what somebody else generates
Your customer hands you something they want to stop answering for. The document you give back is all they will have.
You collect from your customers' premises something they want out of there, and in exchange you give them a document. **That document is the real product of your service** — the lorry is the visible part, but what your customer must keep for years, and what they will be asked for if anyone questions them, is the receipt you issue.
What each part of your service is worth
| What you do | What the customer sees | What they are left with |
|---|---|---|
| Turning up | The lorry | Nothing |
| Removing | The empty space | Nothing |
| Treating | They do not see it | Nothing |
| **Issuing the receipt** | **A document** | **Everything** |
Important
**A receipt that arrives late or incomplete turns a well-delivered service into a problem for your customer.** And it does so in the worst possible way: they no longer have what they handed you, they have already paid, and all they can show is whatever you send them. From their seat there is no difference between a service that was not performed and one that cannot be documented — and since that is the part they keep, it is also the part they judge you on.
What sustains this across many customers
- 1
The receipt going out with the collection
The further apart in time, the more get lost on the way.
- 2
Being consultable without asking you
It saves half the calls you receive.
- 3
Each customer seeing theirs and only theirs
With a hundred customers that is confidentiality, not tidiness.
- 4
And a record of what was sent
«It never reached me» is the commonest complaint and the easiest to close.
Watch out
The invisible work that eats this position's margin is **resending documents for old collections**. It is a task that appears in no quotation: scattered calls, from customers preparing a review who cannot find something from two years ago, handled by someone who has to search the archive. Multiplied across a large customer base it is a half-time job — and it almost entirely disappears if the customer can look it up themselves.
Worth knowing
What documentation must accompany each collection, who must issue it, what data it includes and how long each party retains it **is determined by the rules applying to the material, and settled by your adviser or the competent body**. Here we cover the organisational part: how to issue, deliver and retain the receipt across many customers at once.
›When should the receipt be issued?
As close to the collection as possible. Distance in time is what loses them.
›Should I keep a copy too?
Yes, and you will be asked for it. The customer loses theirs before you lose yours.
›How do I cut the resend calls?
By letting each customer consult theirs without asking you.
A real case
The situation
A customer asks for the receipt of a collection two years ago.
What you do
- Keeps each receipt tied to its customer and date
What you get
It is located without searching the archive.
The situation
The receipt is issued weeks after the collection.
What you do
- Allows issuing and delivering at the moment of service
What you get
The document does not drift from the service.
The situation
The customer says they never received a document.
What you do
- Keeps a record of what was sent and when
What you get
Delivery is demonstrable.
The situation
Resending old documents takes half a day a week.
What you do
- Lets each customer look up their own
What you get
The resend calls disappear.
The situation
With a hundred customers there is a risk of sending one's to another.
What you do
- Limits what each customer sees to their own file
What you get
Confidentiality does not depend on checking every send.
The situation
Receipts are filed by date rather than by customer.
What you do
- Organises documents by customer and by service
What you get
You search the way people ask.
This article answers
- who issues the removal receipt
- customer chasing a document for a collection
- traceability of what was collected from each customer
- managing collections from many customers