Copyright©August 2000 IMDA
For Walter Martin, failing to exploit the power of information technology is simply not an option.
That’s why he invested thousands of dollars in software and hardware this year to automate his company’s sales and customer service processes.
Care Medical, North Little Rock, AR, has four sales reps. Today, each one of them has a Dell Inspiron laptop equipped with Goldmine, a contact management software that Martin customized to better fit the needs of his respiratory/anesthesia business.
Each day, before the reps make their calls, they can look up the details of their accounts – current products sold, purchase history, projects being planned (e.g., for capital equipment purchases), and notes on his or her last call. It’s just the kind of heads-up information they need to make a more effective call.
Later, when the rep leaves the account, he or she updates the information, including opportunity changes or closures.
On a regular basis, each rep receives updated information on their accounts’ purchasing activities via e-mail.
It has taken his reps a little longer than he had anticipated to fully warm to the system, and to keep their information updated, says Martin. But as they recognize its benefits, they are responding better. And there are many benefits.
First and foremost, reps have current account information at their fingertips at any time.
Second, because customer service has access to this information as well, the time-consuming back-and-forth phone calls between the customer service and outside reps has declined.
And the system benefits Martin as a manager.
“When you lose a salesperson, if you don’t have all this information, you have a year just to get back to where you were. It’s a tremendous loss for a company.”
Although he procured outside help to implement the system, Martin did a lot of the work himself.
“It would be wonderful if we had an IT person, but we don’t,” he says.
Other Best of IMDA Updates