|
Scanning, Electronic Orders and the Back Office –
A Rep’s Perspective
As the gift industry
moves into this new millennium we find ourselves with scanning and electronic
orders as the hot new topics.
Scanning offers a myriad of performance improvements for the average
gift rep. Electronic orders and
invoicing allows the opportunity of a paperless office to become a
reality. With all of these benefits at
our fingertips, they are unfortunately similar to the situation found by the
railroads of the 19th century.
There is no standardization.
Without standardization, this can prove to be catastrophic to rep
agencies.
The dynamics and
economics of the technology revolution for the reps are changing. In the 20th century, the gift
rep was trying to improve accuracy and professionalism. Even in the 21st century, the
vast majority of manufacturers still accept paper orders via email and
USPS. Some of the more technologically
skilled manufacturers are aware of the costs involved in processing hundreds
of paper orders. Industry estimates
suggest that the average paper order costs the company approximately $79 to
process.
Scanning companies are
lauding the attributes of their respective systems to hundreds of
manufacturers. The concept of
receiving orders electronically from the field is quite appealing. It reduces error and increases the
productivity of the office support staff, not to mention the reduced cost of
order forms, fax paper, postage and the like.
As more and more manufacturers come on board they will discover the
underlying issue: independent sales reps carry more than one line!
Most of these scanning
solutions are proprietary and will not “talk” to one another. The average sales agency represents some
manufacturers that have entered relationships with different scanning
solutions partners. The result: some
have two, even three back office systems while their associate reps that
often are not technologically literate are juggling multiple scanners and
mastering none!
Some manufacturers, at
the suggestion of their scanning partner, have issued ultimatums to
independent reps; “Drop the line with conflicting scanning or we will be
forced to find alternate representation.”
Many have even dictated that the agency change their back office
system to conform to the back office system offered by the scanning
partner. This is great for the
scanning partner because it provides a new opportunity to perhaps “steal” a
manufacturer from a competitor and to garner the entire sales force.
Unfortunately, it is the rep agency that is largely “un-represented”
in this technology struggle.
The very nature of
independent sales reps, particularly manufacturers
reps, is that they do business with many manufacturers simultaneously. It is inherent in the philosophy of the
multi-line rep to offer their customer that broad cross-section of goods that
would be difficult to find anywhere else.
Independent reps, as such, should be respected for their business
decisions and protected from the dictates of suppliers relative to how to run
their business.
There are, without
question, numerous benefits for the manufacturer and the increase in the size
and speed of order writing in the showroom is a good thing for the sales
agency. These points are quite
positive and should be taken advantage of but a successful rep group should
not be forced to change the way they do business.
It is important to
remember that the trend to force rep groups into a specific scanning or back
office solution has just begun. Most
manufacturers do not want to change the systems that successful reps use to run
their business. Rep groups really don’t want to change a back office system that works for
them. Nor do they want to even begin
to entertain multiple back office systems.
They do not like multiple scanning systems and they are tired of the
multiple costs for disparate systems.
The answer is a simple
one. At the bottom of everything is a
file, a simple little file that is generated by the scanner and is either
sent to the manufacturer or some online location from the rep agency. Likewise, any professional order writing
system has the ability to send orders as “files” today. Good back office systems have been able to
generate these files for years, thus eliminating the need for proprietary or
multiple back office systems. The key
is to align yourself with those technology partners
that are independent – that will work with all of your lines – not just some
of them.
As simple and elegant as
this solution may seem, it has not been suggested by many of the scanning
solutions people. Why? Because they
lose income and control! Ask your
technology partner if they have proprietary relationships with
manufacturers. Do they have the
ability to accept all of your lines?
Can they send electronic orders to any of your lines? Can the send HTML orders as well as files?
The real benefits of
scanning are accuracy, professionalism, speed, and increased average
orders. The rep firm should be able to
choose a scanning solution that benefits the entire business – not just a
portion of the business.
The manufacturer
receives the real benefits of electronic orders. The manufacturer reaps the order
processing benefits. For the rep firm
to truly benefit, the manufacturer should be sending electronic invoice data
to the rep firm’s back office system. Can your back office system accept
electronic invoices in various formats?
References
Commissioner Software,
Ltd.
5545 Aryshire
Drive
Dublin OH 43017
Phone 614-764-0467
Fax 614-764-2125
Email: areaves@columbus.rr.com
Web: http://www.commissionersoftware.com/
WOW Software
1330
Beachcomber Blvd
Waconia, MN
55387
Phone 952 960-0072
Fax 952
960-0072
Email: wow@wow-software.com
Web: http://www.wow-software.com/
|