It can be challenging for sales people when they’re away from the office trying to do business.
• Is this customer in good credit standing?
• What did they order from us last time?
• What do they order most often?
• Has their order volume changed recently?
• What are the specifics of that new product?
• What are the specs? Sizes? Colors available?
• What is their pricing?
These and many more questions may be difficult to answer when you’re on the road.
And what about taking orders? Do you use paper order forms and transcribe them later into Sage? Do you draft an email with the order details to be later transcribed into Sage?
Selling in the field has always presented a unique series of challenges. In the not so “good old days” (which could be today) it meant packing a stack of product catalogs, price sheets, order forms, the list goes on and on. It meant a lot of duplicate effort transcribing orders from an email or paper form into Sage. And that, of course, opened the door for transcription errors, delays in processing, issues with availability, you name it. All that leads to a poor customer experience which can threaten your relationship and future business.
Thankfully that is changing. Being connected is becoming the norm. Leveraging ecommerce capabilities is becoming mainstream. And not just for the big guys. Small and medium size businesses (SMBs) are embracing technology as it becomes accessible and affordable.
For companies using Sage 300, one option is Webtelligence published by North49. Broadly speaking Webtelligence deals with 3 primary ecommerce functions.
Customer Portal This allows your customers to manage their own accounts through an online portal. They have the ability to check their account status, view any transactions you choose to make available to the portal, reprint invoices, and pay invoices online among other things.
Integrated Web Store We’ll take a leap of faith here and assume we don’t have to explain what a web store is. The advantage of a Webtelligence web store is the integration to Sage 300. Nothing is ever re-keyed. Not to the web store. Not to Sage. Customers are provide with a unique experience with their pricing, their terms, their products, and orders flow automatically to Sage with no manual intervention required. That just scratches the surface.
Salesperson Portal The point of this article. Very much like an integrated web store, the Salesperson Portal provides access to all the information in Sage 300 that a salesperson needs to transact business on behalf of a customer.
About Salesperson Portal
1. Access to the Complete Product Catalog
2. Access to the Complete Customer Information
• Terms
• Credit standing
• Customer specific pricing
• Order history (as far back as you keep records)
• And More
3. Live Inventory Availability
4. Web Based Order Entry (Flows automatically to Sage for fulfillment)
5. Access to Any Data in Sage 300
6. Use On Any Device (Desktop, Tablet, Phone)
This technology applies to more than just field sales staff.
• It can be used for showroom sales when other sizes, colors, configurations of products are available but not on display.
• It can be used at trade shows where staff can take orders or show your product line to prospects.
• It can be used for route sales so staff can sell and invoice directly from the truck.
As SMBs embrace technology that is becoming more accessible and affordable, they are finding themselves better equipped to complete with larger players because of their greater agility. It’s a perfect opportunity to capture market share with improved efficiencies to reduce costs, better service for greater customer engagement, and increased loyalty from existing customers for more repeat business. Technology is a great equalizer.
Contact solutions@north49.com to find out more