As production time for the back-to-school season approaches, print shops gear up for a surge in demand for custom apparel and promotional items. This busy period is an excellent time to expand your customer base and boost your order volume for the year. But with that increased volume, you need the right tools to ensure customers have simple ways to order from your shop and efficient means to sell their swag to students and teachers. You can use InkSoft Proposals to prepare for the back-to-school season and combine them with InkSoft Stores so coaches and school administrators come to your team for all their team gear, fundraiser, and school club gear.

Here are three big ways Proposals can help you stand out this busy season.

If you already work with schools and teams, you’re probably well aware: everyone is short on time and doesn’t need another task on their plate. Consider this– a Department of Education study found that 53% of schools said they felt they were understaffed for the 2022-2023 school year. If teachers, coaches, and administrators are feeling that same strain heading into this fall, they need ways to run clubs, teams, and events that saves them time and legwork.

With InkSoft Proposals, you give those customers a simple, streamlined way to review their orders so they know exactly what they’re getting.

Whether you need to add products, custom artwork, or an existing mockup, you can do it all inside the Proposals platform and send it to school administrators. Since the entire process is online, you’re also saving that customer time since they can review the order details and respond if they have questions, concerns, or changes instead of having to schedule a time to come into the shop. 

Coaches and administrators don’t want to deal with distributing and collecting paper order forms from parents and students because it’s messy and time-consuming, and they’re trying to focus on things like budget, team strategy for the season, and practice schedules. You can combine InkSoft Proposals with an online store for a smoother, more organized approach to keeping track of all those school spirit shirts, team uniforms, fundraiser swag, or any other bulk goods your school customers want to sell.

Check out this video for a deeper look into how you can tie a Proposal and store together for an easy sale.

You can also use a store as an online order form for those busy coaches and administrators, reducing their paperwork. Here’s a complete set of instructions on turning an online store into an order for school customers.

People want easy ways to do business online; that’s a given. And the numbers don’t lie. In one recent study by Salesforce, 80% of customers said they consider the experience a company provides to be just as important as the services or goods they’re offering.

If you can create an easy-to-understand proposal paired with a mobile-friendly, customizable online store, you’ll deliver exactly what modern customers want. 

And, with a reliable online store, you’ll have a solution for your customers that can help reduce the chances of abandoned shopping carts, another big issue with shoppers. One recent study found that the average cart abandonment rate is almost 70%. 

With those types of numbers, it’s worth ensuring every part of your ordering process is smooth, easy, and pleasant for your customers. That goes for the school and teams market and any other category.