If a rep writes an order on paper, someone keys it again later. That second touch is where margin quietly leaks — in time, in errors, and in cash that arrives late.
Add up the second touch
A rep who spends 30–40 minutes a night re-keying tickets isn't unusual. Multiply that across a fleet and a five-day week and you're paying for hundreds of hours a month to type information that already existed.
Then add the error tax: a transposed price, a missed case, a credit that never posts. Each one is a call, a re-bill, or a write-off.
Where paper costs you most
- Labor: nightly re-keying and morning reconciliation.
- Errors: wrong prices and quantities that erode margin and trust.
- Cash: invoices that post days late stretch your DSO.
- Disputes: no signature or timestamp means you eat the credit.
What changes at the door
When the rep captures the order once — priced correctly, signed, and queued to post — the second touch disappears. Invoices hit your accounting system the same day, and the nightly typing session is gone.
The math is simple: fewer hours, fewer errors, faster cash.
Key takeaways
- Every paper ticket is touched at least twice; the second touch is pure cost.
- Errors and late posting quietly compound into real margin loss.
- Capturing the order once at the door removes the labor, the errors, and the cash delay.
See also: Direct sales: invoice at the door · Back office: the street lands in your books · Delivery: signed proof of delivery
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