SellingPoint Overview: Sales People

Sales people be more effective with these features:

Customer relationship management

• A flexible program for managing accounts, leads, and opportunities.
• Sales resources can be made available from the manufacturer.
• Works with or without an internet connection, making it ideal for sales people working in the field or who travel often.
• Quickly view a history of the relationship with a contact.

Quotes and estimates

• SellingPoint SmartQuote technology allows you to collect the information needed by the manufacturer to provide a quick and accurate quote.
• Once a request for a quote has been initiated, it is submitted to the proper manufacturer instantly. Upon receipt, the manufacturer can reply with a quote which will appear in SellingPoint Sales Edition. At this point a dialog can begin between the manufacturer and customer until agreeable terms are met by both parties and the project can be started. This dialog is much like an email conversation back and forth with the benefit that everything related to the transaction is stored along with the quote file, making it easy for anyone to see the history of the quoting process.

Order entry

• Direct access to one or more online stores in the SellingPoint network, making it easy to enter orders across many manufacturers.
• Once an order is submitted, it will be sent instantly to the manufacturing for review. At this point the manufacturer will mark the order with a status and note which indicates the state of the order. As the order is processed through the manufacturing process, the status and notes will be added and can be viewed at any time through SellingPoint Sales Edition or via the online store.

Reporting

• Reports are provided that offer a view of sales activity. These reports can easily be modified with the built in report designer.
• Invoices can be printed for customers that have submitted orders. Of course these forms can be customized using the built in report designer to add things like your company logo and name to the invoice.

Electronic newsletters

• Contacting leads and opportunities through newsletters is an excellent way of informing possible customers of a company’s product offers and promotional activities. This is an inexpensive way to offer a constant invitation for potential customers to visit the company’s online store for additional information.
• Existing customers will appreciate regular newsletters delivered to their inbox informing them of new products and specials. When done correctly, this is a reliable and inexpensive way of increasing customer satisfaction. It also keeps the invitation to visit the company’s web site continually before them.
• Newsletters are sent as email messages from SellingPoint and can be targeted to specific lists of addresses. A built in account management system allows customers to opt in or out at their choosing without needing to contact the company for assistance.
• Addresses can be added or updated to lists manually, but they can also be manipulated in bulk. Drop in purchased mailing lists with ease from an Excel file, CSV file, or other popular format.
• Newsletters can be sent out to any number of recipients and can be scheduled to for mailing at a time that is best targeted to promote readership.
• Tracking technologies are used to tell you exactly who received the newsletter, when they read it, and what they clicked on in the message. This information is very useful in gauging the success of strategies in near real-time.
• Send out rich looking newsletters will full color and graphics. If the recipient is not using an email client that can view messages at such fidelity, then the system will automatically send a text only version to ensure everyone gets the most readable format of the newsletter.
• Attachments can also be added to newsletters, making it a powerful way of keeping in touch with groups of customers or partners that would benefit from drawing files or PDF files such as architects or draftsmen.

Continue to Part 7: Vendors and Suppliers