The Good Stuff Keeps Getting Better
How Wholesail Helps a California Specialty Foods Distributor Get Paid Faster and Prepare for Future Growth
Malik and Ahmed are brothers, best friends, and business partners. They are building on a 30+ year family legacy of distributing natural and organic specialty foods to Northern California and beyond.
The brothers deliver exceptional service to their customers. And they're continuing to grow their business and expand into new markets. But their growth made it clear that their Accounts Receivable processes were not set up to scale. For example, more customers meant more phone calls about lost invoices, more credit cards to key in manually, and more payments to reconcile in NetSuite. The workload was unsustainable at their pace of growth.
So the brothers looked at options and were intrigued by Wholesail's user-friendly platform and straightforward pricing. They needed a solution that offered customers greater account transparency and flexible payment options. They also needed the solution to end manual payment processing and reconciliation that took up too much time.
Wholesail’s team led a thorough, in-person discovery process to understand Good Stuff’s op-erations and challenges. Once Wholesail successfully integrated into NetSuite, all of Good Stuff’s customers received instant access to the customer portal. Customers began receiving automated account statements, and payments immediately started coming in through ACH and credit cards.
Best of all? Wholesail’s team made the transition seamless for Malik and Ahmed. Wholesail's team handled all the tech support and customer communications. They created campaigns to en-courage Good Stuff's customers to set up Autopay, which improved cash flow and reduced delays.
“Wholesail is an integral part of Good Stuff and will continue to be as we grow. We found a trusted partner in Wholesail," Ahmed said.
“From a customer service standpoint, Wholesail checks all the boxes. From a product standpoint, it solved all our problems. From a customer engagement standpoint, it’s working well. Technologically and communicatively, Wholesail excels in setting up new customers, collecting payments, and managing customer invoice information.”
Good Stuff added Wholesail to NetSuite to improve their customer experience and to automate AR. Now, they have a trusted tool that will grow with their business.
How Wholesail Became Good Stuff’s Trusted Partner
Saves time. Malik and team now save 20 hours a week (four hours a day) with Wholesail. With 47% of customers now paying through the portal, they spend less time manually processing credit cards and posting payments. Now they can focus more time on servicing their larger accounts. Most importantly, the brothers are now confident in their ability to expand into new markets without drowning in manual AR tasks.
“Wholesail is already streamlined into our current model and can be easily replicated. It’s a growth tool and pillar for Good Stuff.”
—Ahmed, COO of Good Stuff
Fast, reliable payments. Transitioning customers to pay automatically was a key goal for Good Stuff. At launch, Wholesail's Customer Success team helped them run targeted email campaigns. These Autopay email proposals allowed customers to authorize automatic payments with one click. Now, 62% of Wholesail payments come through Autopay.
In total, Wholesail payments are coming in six days faster than non Wholesail payments. Invoices are automatically emailed to the right contacts (as opposed to just left behind upon delivery). With automated statements and the Customer Portal, customers always know where they stand and rarely lose or skip invoices.
“The Autopay feature is seamless. It’s a weight off your shoulders because you know your Autopay customers will always be in good standing.”
—Malik, CFO of Good Stuff
Better customer experiences. Wholesail's 24/7 Customer Portal gives Good Stuff’s customers access to all invoices, credit memos, and payment history. It's easy for customers to use and doesn't require any training, unlike other options they considered. When customers have questions about Wholesail's platform, the Wholesail team is quick to respond. Malik and team don’t have to work as tech support, and their customers get their questions answered fast and efficiently.
“Wholesail was able to offer everything we needed with a better user interface.”
—Malik, CFO of Good Stuff
Better tools for sales. With Wholesail, Good Stuff’s sales reps can now log in and check customer account statuses. They can immediately see overdue payments and address them before processing new orders, preventing orders being prepared then getting held up due to unpaid invoices. Sales and Accounts Receivable are always on the same page, making internal processes run more smoothly.
Onboarding new customers is also easier, thanks to Wholesail’s' New Customer Form. Good Stuff can set payment terms upfront and collect payment information before customers place their first order. Sales reps no longer collect paper ACH authorizations or worry about dreaded payment conversations.
“My sales reps can focus more on selling instead of collecting payments now.”
—Ahmed, COO of Good Stuff