In the last 20 years, software and hardware development has improved enough to make once expensive and high maintenance software available to smaller companies. One of the ways it is delivered is through online hosting services. With the advent of mobile phones and laptops, hosted services have closed the communication gap to allow the road warrior to work anywhere, from abroad to the office. Now, with the Internet, reps can access their data from any location without the overhead and headache of maintaining their own remote connection software or systems. It’s a different world where high-powered sales force automation software is available to users at all levels of functional need and price. How does that affect representatives and agencies in their daily activities? Let’s make a wish list for a sales force automation system that meets the needs of a representative and see if it is reasonable to expect that a hosted system can offer it at an acceptable cost.
Judging from my past experience as CFO of manufacturing companies, representatives and agencies have a demonstrated need to:
oA way to complete all sales quote activity in one go and deliver or email it to the customer and manager. No need to finish the last 5% of work “in the office”
o Having all your information in one place, catalogs, products, customers, quotes and orders
o Have a way to move on to the next sale, knowing that everything has been done
o Spend as little time as possible on paperwork
o Have tools that help them avoid making mistakes
o Professional-looking order and quote forms with representative’s name and logo
oAccess to information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
o Have an easy way to update and forward quotes
o Have a way to track “what field is the ball in”, customer, representative or manager
o Have a history of everything that has been done with a client
The benefits of having a system that could do all of this would be better communication with managers and clients, streamlined sales processes, gaining a clear view of the sales process, and gaining a competitive advantage over reps who still do things the old fashioned way. . Ultimately, it would be the owner of all the information it contains forever; it would not be under the control of a director. In fact, it could also help secure desirable product lines, as it could demonstrate success in your markets and demonstrate that you can efficiently and effectively serve the type of clients that directors seek. The secondary benefits are that you do not have to buy or install any software, and system updates and upgrades are handled by the software vendor.
My point is that to accomplish all of this you would need the kind of system that sophisticated manufacturers have, but it is clearly within the realm of possibility to hope that systems like this can and will exist at a reasonable price to reps and agencies, especially given the relative ease it takes to make the necessary modifications to the program. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel, just give reps a hosted location to work from and tweak the interface appropriately.
Hosted systems are the wave of the future and those that meet unique needs at a reasonable price are here today or just around the corner. When looking for systems, you should expect a reasonable subscription fee, a free trial period so you can try it out, discounts or lower fees for multiple users, and a discount, or additional months free, if you pay a year in advance. Expect the interface to be reasonably intuitive and the training will likely be a web-based tutorial or possibly in a webinar format. Basic reports will likely come as part of the package, but custom reports and data import services may cost extra. For more sophisticated users, look for systems that allow you to export your data to a spreadsheet format that you can download to your computer. This puts the transaction data directly at your fingertips and allows you to analyze your own data or create your own custom reports.
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