Help and Support

If your customer has asked you to register in an Achilles community, it’s because they need further assurance your company meets the standards they expect from supply partners. After all, there’s a lot hinging on that business relationship – not just for them, but for you too.

Buyers need to be sure you’re compliant with key legislation and regulations, particularly in areas like health and safety, environment, quality and corporate social responsibility – ultimately, reputation is everything in today’s business world and no one can afford a supply chain scandal.

Once you’ve joined a community, all the buyers will be able to see your credentials. This will save you time and – as well as strengthening existing relationships – can help you forge new ones.

It depends what industries and regions you operate in. Our community finder tool will help you find the most relevant choices.

It may not exist yet, but – if there’s demand from buyers – there’s every chance it will in the future. We update our site regularly, so be sure to keep looking.

That depends on who and where you want to supply. If you’re hoping to reach potential customers in different sectors or regions, you’ll need to join each of the communities you’re interested in separately.

This is because each community is managed by different selections of buyers and industry associations – all of whom want to limit membership to suppliers who can meet their precise needs.

You can find communities using our community finder tool.

No. It will put you in front of buyers you might not otherwise have access to and it makes it quicker and easier for buyers to decide to do business with you. What’s more, our Customer Success Team is on hand to help you optimise your profile and make the most of the opportunities in your community. We also run networking events that can help you meet valuable contacts face-to-face.

With all that in mind, there’s a good chance you’ll win new business but, ultimately, buyers make the choices – not us.

Great question, especially as we aim to help you see your business through the eyes of buyers. Join our Customer Success Team for a free hour-long webinar to get a detailed demonstration of exactly how buyers use our communities to select their suppliers.

Once you’ve subscribed, we’ll send you an online questionnaire to complete. This varies according to the industry and region you operate in. You can expect to be asked for details about your:

• Products and services
• Health and safety management
• Environmental compliance policies
• Quality management
• Supply chain management
• Carbon management
• Corporate social responsibility
• Insurances
• Financial accounts
• Legal compliance

As you can see, it’s a comprehensive process. It could be a good idea for colleagues in different areas of your business to start preparing information ahead of time.

If you have the required information to hand, it should only take 2 or 3 hours. You can refer to our community quick start guides to see what information you’ll need and start preparing. You’ll find this guide in the ‘resources and help’ section on your community page. If you need any help, feel free to contact your Account Manager.

In most cases, yes. Communities are all about giving buyers reasons to trust you. Knowing that you’re financially secure makes it much easier for buyers to address any questions they might have about continuity. As a result, you’re more likely to assure them.

We’ll then begin the process of validating the information you’ve provided. Once you’ve passed, your information will be published and made available to the community, and buyers will be able to find you in their searches.

We’ll also provide you with stamps and certificates you can use across your marketing materials to let the wider world know about your credentials.

For more tips on how to make the most of your subscription, join our Customer Success Team for a free hour-long webinar.

If we spot any problems, we’ll bring these to your attention, talk you through them and allow you to amend your information accordingly.

Don’t forget, if you need any help with any aspect of the questionnaire, you can contact your Account Manager.

When you register a product or service we attribute a code to it. Without this code, the product or service won’t be visible to buyers as they search the platform. So, if it’s product or service you’re hoping to promote via our communities – you’ll need to register them*.

*Please note: as a neutral third party, Achilles is unable to offer advice on what product or service codes your organisation should select.

Depending on the information you’ve supplied and the criteria of your community and the buyers who are interested in your business, we may need to conduct an audit. Audits are one of the best ways to give potential buyers the highest level of assurance.

Find out more about our assessments and audits

Not a problem. Contact your Account Manager and they’ll be able to help you amend it.

Your fee covers the process of collecting and validating your information and then keeping it visible to the community’s members for 1 year.

You’ll also get stamps and certificates you can use to promote your business. And, for the duration of your subscription, you can always turn to our Customer Success Team. As well as resolving any problems you might encounter, they can offer advice on how to make the most of your subscription.

Communities work by giving buyers the assurance that they’re dealing with suppliers who meet their specific criteria. What’s important in one region or industry may matter far less in another. With that in mind, our audits are only ever relevant to one community.

If you fail an audit you have the option to be re-audited.

Your information is only useful to buyers if it’s up to date.

To help you stay on , we’ll contact you whenever any of your certifications are about to expire. Likewise, if there are any new questions buyers need answers to, we’ll alert you. You’ll also receive an annual reminder to review your information, though if something important changes it’s best to edit your profile straight away.

We have different price brackets depending on how many products or services you want to register. Above a certain number (which varies between communities) you can make as many registrations as you like without any change in price.

Every buyer in the community can find your information. That means there’s a whole marketplace of potential customers who can see at a glance that you’ve got the credentials to be part of their procurement strategy.

It’s a 5 or 6 digit number. It’ll be on your welcome email, on any of the certificates you’ve been awarded and in your company’s questionnaire.

You may have forgotten to renew your subscription. Contact your Account Manager and they’ll let you know what to do next. If you can’t find the details for your Account Manager then complete this form and we will put them in touch with you.

That’s not a problem. Contact your Account Manager and they’ll get them reset for you.

We certainly can. Our Customer Success Team are dedicated to helping you make the most of your subscription. They regularly run webinars and training sessions that provide a detailed look at how everything works.

We’ve prequalified all our community members, so a lot of the hard work is already done. Now it’s just about selecting the partner that’s best for you. Our Customer Success Team are on hand to help get to grips with the platform or – if you’d like a personal training session – your Account Manager can organise one for you.

As many as you like. Your account administrator can do this under the ‘manage users’ tab on the platform homepage.

Once you’ve been validated and your profile has been published, you’ll be able to download your certificates and stamps from the platform homepage. We can also email you a copy of them.

We support Google Chrome (up to v49) and Firefox (up to v45). You can also use Internet Explorer 10 or 11 in compatibility mode.

(To enable compatibility mode, select ‘tools’ from the menu bar and click ‘display all websites in compatibility mode’.)

Yes, you can. We have a status page that provides live updates on some of our communities. You can see the current status online.