Time is money
At the recent International Pool | Spa | Patio Expo in Las Vegas, a leading pool and spa retailer made the comment that it takes two years for a new salesperson to become ‘profitable.’ As most suppliers now provide product information via the web, salespeople can instantly access this information and shorten the timeframe needed to reach that ‘profitable’ status. Not only can they immediately answer customer questions about inventory availability and technical specifications; they can also maximize add-on sales by suggesting matching accessories.
One obstacle to realizing such efficiencies has been the fact is many suppliers do not have a standardized website, meaning salespeople have to navigate each one and keep track of user names, passwords, menu structures, and so on. Learning multiple systems is an overwhelming task. The result has been such websites simply do not get used as often as they should.
Some suppliers have recognized this and are now providing information via standardized websites. This means you and your salespeople only have to learn one way to access the information you need from multiple suppliers. Salespeople at big box stores only have one system to learn to access information on all the products they sell, the standardized website approach eliminates this advantage.
Wait, there’s more
Perhaps the ultimate advantage to external software integration has been the ability for retailers to have their own system automatically updated whenever a supplier updates theirs. (Imagine being able to click a button to have your own inventory system updated with everything from price changes to new product information.)
When a supplier changes their pricing, this means hours of data entry work for the retailer, and if you do not make those changes immediately, your margin suffers because you are selling at the old price. Some suppliers also provide a tool enabling retailers to update their purchase order (PO) system via the supplier’s online ordering system. Retailers will choose this option because of advanced features such as matching accessories and e-mail notifications. However, they do not want to have to re-enter that order into their own PO system. By using these integration tools, the inefficiencies related to double entry disappear.
There are suppliers out there who make it a priority to help their retailers compete against big box stores. As one national sales manager said, “We should do whatever we can to help our retailers be successful, otherwise we will have no one to sell our products to.”
If your suppliers are not providing you with type of integration tools discussed in this article insist that they do or find someone who will. Your business depends on it.
Stephanie Allemann is the founder of Crik-IT, a ‘web-based customer service representative,’ designed and developed for vendors (manufacturers and distributors) who have a dealer channel and/or reps in the field and provides an alternative way for them to access key information and enter purchase orders. Allemann can be reached via e-mail at steph@crik-it.com or visit www.crik-it.com.
