How Dodson and Horrell saw a 2.7% increase in average invoice lines in 3 months with the help of sales-i.
Dodson and Horrell were struggling to find a way where they could provide quick, timely, and up-to-date sales reports with customer information and customer sales trends.
Since introducing sales-i they’ve been able to:
- Easily generate customer sales reports;- Have up-to-date data;
- Save their sales teams time when it comes to reports.
Why do you need a system to match your business size?
Pre-sales-i, Dodson, and Horrell sourced their customer information from a web-based system but with very limited flexibility and speed. Joe Fildew shares that “we were unable to provide quick and up to date sales information, including trends and customer performance.
Working with a large number of customers (1000+), it was important to improve our ability to focus on customers at both ends of the scale.
Better reports, more time, and more data
Dodson and Horrell introduced sales-i because it was “easy to use and the ability to drill down into customer performance was unbeatable,” shares Joe.
Joe explains that with sales-i, it “allows us to see customer, region and category performance quickly to influence forward decision making.
sales-i also enables our sales team to have informed, real-time conversations with customers to drive sales performance better than ever before. The system allows for insights to be gained at head office level, to support and shape a forward strategy to keep our business moving towards success.”
“At Dodson and Horrell, we take full advantage of the sales-i data cube to be able to identify customer performance month on month, to analyze any changes in trends, and to seek new sales opportunities. This is really important to us for tracking all performance measures vs. our budget for a given year.
sales-i is often used to support our short-term objectives within the sales team, by identifying non-stockists of ranges or lapsed customers to stimulate discussion within the customer base. Outside of this usage, we also value the ability to identify potential revenue opportunities for the business and retail partners by category reviews. Having this feature at the touch of the button has really impacted how efficiently we work as a team.
Another feature we get a lot of use out of is the Snapshot tool. It doesn’t matter if our sales team are short of time to prepare for a customer meeting, with the sales-i Snapshot Reports, they are able to generate a pre-designed performance pack with graphs and charts to demonstrate the customer performance.
From this, they’re seen as the most knowledgeable person around the meeting table as they have all the information prepped and sat in front of them.”
“It saves hours of precious time and allows our team to focus on driving sales and reaching their targets, rather than compiling data into a presentation.
Lastly, I’d say that the mobile CRM is being used more and more by the sales team as they become familiar and comfortable with the system. The dictation section – with speaking their notes into their device – is especially helpful for the team when following up calls before visiting their next customer. This way, they have no excuse not to log their notes and keep the customer accounts up-to-date.”
Dodson and Horrell have recently introduced a number of training days with sales-i to educate and upskill new members of the sales team and directors on how to fully use the system and get the most out of their investment.
Joe adds by sharing “these sessions are always incredibly useful and well-received. We plan to run more of these sessions where appropriate.”
Who are Dodson and Horrell?
The company began developing and producing high-quality agricultural feed and soon became the most trusted supplier in their area. Their biggest goal is to always ensure every equine, canine, small animal, and pet gets the best possible combination and balance of nutrients and supplements to fuel performance and live healthier lives.
Dodson and Horrell employ approximately 150 people and have two factory sites in the East Midlands through which they service their wide and varied customer base.
