7 Signs You Need BI - Wholesalers

7 SIGNSYOU NEED BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

WHOLESALERS

A publication of

Wholesalers are overrun with reams of data that they simply aren’t extracting any value from.

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The wholesale industry has played one of the most

pivotal roles in the distribution network for well over

100 years, yet the challenges wholesalers face today

are raising the

stakes as many fight to maintain and increase their

share of the market. Like many businesses, wholesale

companies are heavily dependent on striking a

profitable balance between supply and demand. In an

industry worth billions, wholesalers are set on

cementing their position within their markets and

continuing to grow their businesses.For the most part however, wholesalers are striving to

ensure effective business management and growth

while juggling

the constant need to improve processes and

streamline costs. Of course, as any business grows,

so too does the complexity of its inner workings.

The daily interaction

between wholesaler, customer and supplier is often

tested as many companies struggle to manage

growth.

A growing business means a growing data set, from invoices

to customer interactions and sales data, wholesalers in

particular are overrun with reams of data that they simply

aren’t extracting any value from. This is just one of the sure

fire signs that you need software in place to better manage

your wholesale business from top to bottom.That is exactly where Business Intelligence (BI) can step in,

taking complete control of data analysis and churning out

valuable information and unmissable sales opportunities. BI

solutions automate the task

of analyzing data, providing a better understanding of

company performance, creating a proactive sales culture

offering a complete customer view for the entire business

and streamlining the sales and marketing process. SHARE THIS EBOOK

7 Signs You Need BI: Wholesalers


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1. Reliance on manual systemsOne of the biggest challenges facing wholesalers is

managing their company data. Many wholesalers

continue to rely heavily on paper-based systems to

take orders, manage customers and do business.

Systems like these often demand huge investments of

time and effort to manage any sort of account. Being

so labor intensive makes them incredibly unwieldy

when it comes to costs too.

But there is a multitude of software systems

available today that can manage all manner of

processes. From managing customer data to

monitoring inventory and identifying sales

opportunities, technology has moved on leaps and

bounds of late and can automate almost every

process within your business.

BI will automate your entire sales process, from

collating customer records to smarter management of

sales history and customer buying behavior and sales

patterns. Feeding upon the transactional information

stored within your company’s ERP or accounting

software, it can monitor every transaction before

identifying trends and highlighting every additional

sales

opportunity with very little effort on a user’s part.



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2. Changing customer demand

Customer requirements are consistently changing and particularly so in times of

economic strife. Customer demands can change almost overnight in an effort to

look after their own business needs and protect their cash flow.

As customer needs change, any company needs to be responsive in order to

retain their existing customers. The key here is to increase sales and marketing

spend, not cut

back as some might. As competition increases between wholesalers, the need

for better customer insight and a more proactive approach to selling will soon

become evident.

Without a complete view of your customers’ changing purchasing behavior, no

wholesaler can remain competitive in a fluctuating market.

A BI tool will automatically sift through your sales and transactional data before

presenting you with targeted marketing opportunities to outsell your competition.

If customer demands are changing for economic reasons, why not offer a valuable

link sell opportunity or promotion for a complementary product? Or if they are

buying regular line items from you, a BI tool is smart enough to preempt their

need to reorder and you can swoop in well before the competition to get a deal

signed off. Your customers will appreciate the thought and will likely return to you

in the future.



3. Increasing competitionIn a flourishing market, intense rivalry soon develops between

wholesalers as new businesses continue to pop up almost daily.

Competition is

no longer limited to a national problem, but an international one.

The increase in globalization has caused a surge in the number

of wholesalers operating within the international marketplace. As

your customers seek the best price, your overseas counterparts

may be better positioned to offer knockdown prices, tempting

your customers to switch their loyalties.To remain competitive, you must be competing on value. Price is

important, however supplying lifetime value to your customers

will keep them coming back for more. Offering product advice,

suggestions, even an article you think they may find useful all

adds value. It keeps you front of mind and ensures that your

customers are thinking of you, not your competition, when they

need to reorder.

To remain competitive, you must be competing on value and not just price.

4. Need to streamline inventoryAs in any business, managing your inventory is key. Storage

costs money and low margin items aren’t the best for your

bottom line. Wholesalers likely have thousands of line items, if

not more, and the need to distinguish the low margin items

from the high margin items is key.

The ‘low price, low margin, high volume’ model simply won’t fly

unless you are an industry leader with a huge customer

following that can generate a healthy profit for you. This

doesn’t necessarily mean that selling at a high price for higher

margins is the only way of doing business, more that you need

the insight to understand which of your products produce the

optimal amount of return.Using a BI solution can help with the smarter management of

your extensive product range, particularly if you have

thousands of line items. Trawling your sales data, it will

highlight your top grossing items, your best and worst sellers

and those that generate you the best profit margin. With this

level of awareness at your fingertips, wholesalers can act

accordingly to adjust or improve their sales approach. Whether

this may be attempting to minimize production costs, raising

prices or even discontinuing a poor performing product line,

companies will be safe in the knowledge that decisions have

been made on fact and data, rather than gut feelings.

“

“A good BI solution will allow you to outsmart the competition at

every corner. Plotting a clear picture of any adverse competitor

activity, you can form your plan of attack and respond with

tactical sales opportunities based on fact that will ensure your

customers remain yours.



5. Performance management

As time goes on and business grows, it often becomes

more troublesome to manage employee and company

performance as a whole. Not only does the amount of

data you harvest grow, but so too does the size of your

workforce. Managing their performance is

challenging at the best of times, but becomes even more

difficult as you expand.

Every company will benefit from having good people, but

managing their development, workloads and performance

is often a time consuming task, not to mention the

overbearing job of managing company finances as sales

soar.

BI was made to help companies flourish during their growth

phase, from small entrepreneurial businesses into the

international heavyweights of the business world. Reporting

on company and even employee performance is time

consuming, but necessary. BI solutions however, make this

level of reporting a breeze, instantly collating every required

scrap of information you need to monitor and improve

performance. From top selling products to your best

account, branch or even region, BI software can produce

granular performance reports in seconds.



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25% have bought product X but not Y6. Identifying growth opportunities

The continual delivery of growth is the ultimate goal for most wholesalers,

from expanding into new markets to securing high profile customers. While

most businesses are of the belief that any kind of growth takes months of

planning and research, many quick wins can be found within your existing

customer base. And in increasingly competitive markets, any opportunity for

growth must be seized.

For example, a BI solution can identify instant cross and link selling

opportunities that lie within your customer base in seconds. If you are selling

paper to a customer, why aren’t they purchasing their toner or pens from

you? And who are they currently buying these products from? These kind of

opportunities are quick and easy sales that can be made in a single phone

call or meeting.

The help of BI solutions can empower wholesalers of every size to maximize

their current position within the market, fuelling the fire for impressive

growth further down the line. Such opportunities can range from identifying

quick sales opportunities to winning business back from the competition. Use

BI to identify your fastest growing product group and work with your

marketing team to capitalize on this. Design an exclusive promotion for quick

wins, offer existing customers a free sample or even tempt prospective

customers in with

a knockdown introductory price. Not only will this grow your market

penetration but will spark interest amongst your customers and could even

lead to news spreading about your latest promotion.



7. Little customer loyaltyRetaining customers is becoming an expensive battle for most wholesalers;

particularly as international competitors continue to prey on your customers

with low prices and fast delivery times. Customer loyalty is very important in

the wholesale industry and satisfied customers form an integral part of your

business, but as customers become more and more price sensitive, you need

to be able to provide a level of service that makes it easy for them to reorder

from you.

With a diverse customer base, keeping every customer happy demands

a complete overview of daily interactions and sales history. Any good BI

system will integrate your sales data with your customer information

and provide you with a complete overview of each account. Not only

will this allow you to stay on top of their performance, but will also act

as a central information point for your entire business and you can

provide a level of service that is truly second to none.

BI software supplies the insight that will ensure your many

customers are treated as individuals and given the right

incentives to keep ordering from you. Whether this is a

personalized promotion based on their purchase history or

even a free sample, the key is to remain at the front of your

customer’s mind so that when they need to reorder, they

instantly think of you.



Spot potential problems early

sales-i is a powerful cloud based Business Intelligence

solution that joins your ERP data together with your CRM data

to give you actionable sales information for each and every

customer. We turn a good sales person into a great one.

www.sales-i.com

STREAMLINEYOUR SALES AND MARKETING PROCESS



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7 Signs You Need BI - Wholesalers