It's time to equip your sales team with apps

May 12, 2015
New technologies come into the marketplace nearly every day, but there are some you and your sales force are most likely already familiar with that can give your parts business a leg up in serving commercial accounts.

New technologies come into the marketplace nearly every day, but there are some you and your sales force are most likely already familiar with that can give your parts business a leg up in serving commercial accounts.

Tablet computers and the latest business-specific apps are a powerful new way to manage a parts salesperson’s daily calls and highlight opportunities to increase sales and customer loyalty. These apps can help your sales team manage their days from scheduling to reporting to showing customers their buying histories and habits. They also enable sales managers to monitor the team’s progress and activities, all while feeding the latest data directly from your business management software.

Apps such as the new Epicor “Service Insights” for iOS and Android devices offer real-time information about each shop customer, as well as comparative sales and service patterns for the market, allowing the user to provide shop owners and service writers a clear picture of their parts buying habits and untapped opportunities for growth. Presenting hard numbers in graphical form makes it clearer for the customer to see where opportunities might exist, and easier for your salesperson to boost revenue.

Leading business management software solutions can push key account performance data, as well as parts availability and pricing information, directly to tablet-based apps.  Are your margins getting stronger or weaker with a given shop? Are you earning your share of parts purchases in growing service categories? Which brands are customers migrating to? This market intelligence is presented in dashboard settings a shop owner or service writer can understand quickly.

For example, during a shop visit your salesperson could point out that other shops in the area have experienced more robust sales growth in cooling system service. It could be that this shop needs to focus more attention on this category or is purchasing cooling system components and supplies from another supplier. Either scenario is an area of opportunity that deserves discussion with the shop owner. The availability of this data in graphical form helps make your salesperson more effective in these situations.

The trick when implementing the technology is to not overwhelm the shop owner or service writer. You simply want to arm the salesperson with key performance indicators, including cumulative sales, margins, revenue per invoice and returns. Historical data and area trends are also important.

Your customers count on you to let them know about new parts, tools and products. These apps offer access to data on each shop’s brand habits, giving the sales rep an opening to pull up information on a certain company’s new part based on a history of brand loyalty. In short, giving your sales representatives the right information at the right time can open new opportunities for revenue at virtually every account.

Aside from the assistance your sales team will have in making the sale, these new apps aid individuals in planning and managing their days, following up on tasks, scheduling appointments, sending emails and completing call reports.

These apps are ready to re-energize your sales team. If you already have issued tablet computers to your outside salespeople, the additional investment is minimal to empower each user to grow sales and margin. If you’ve considered purchasing tablets but haven’t been convinced they can drive business, now you have the additional tools you’ve been looking for.

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