Sales reps working for inventory-oriented companies in the field often experience an information vacuum due to being cut off from the main office and warehouse. Apart from delivering ordered goods and selling at the customer’s door, they occasionally need to take and document new orders, check products’ availability, drive to the office to pick or drop Invoices, deal with mispacked goods, or let the warehouse staff know some items would have to be put away for upcoming orders. In a small business, field workers’ responsibilities might easily pack all this and even more.
Without real-time information, sales reps are left with the only option of writing everything down, making repeated trips to the office, and sometimes ending up waffling on their promises to customers. This does not sound like a business that will last long, does it? There are hundreds of field sales apps out there to save the day by streamlining customer management and selling on the go. Unfortunately, many of them lack proper inventory tracking and synchronization with the accounting side. HandiFox Online is a cloud-based stock control software system that encompasses both inventory and field sales needs of small businesses, letting field workers tend to their sales tasks and go well beyond them, if necessary. Here is a blend of HandiFox’s technology capabilities that empower field sales workers to achieve workplace efficiency:
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- Customer management from mobile devices – create, view, review customers and their open balances through the system’s Internet-accessible part or the dedicated app.
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- Items’ on-hand availability with real time updates and shortage alerts. Track what is on sales orders, invoices or ordered for replenishment to give customers some orientation as to how fast their new order can be process and delivered.
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- Automated Sales Order (SO) generation with barcode scanning to replace manually writing orders down. If eligible, field workers can provide discounts and price reductions would just go on a freshly generated SO. The order is immediately checked into the system and received by the back-end that starts executing on it.
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- Generating Invoices from scratch or based on existing SOs. Capture the customer’s signature to go on the printed version.
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- Document payment receipt with an itemized Sales Receipt. Add items by scanning their barcodes or locating them through the search field.
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- Recording returns with Credit Memos.
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- Tracking and collecting sales data to generate sales reports that are further used for demand forecasting, adequate planning of warehouse resources, developing ordering habits, automated PO generation (based on sales volumes projected by the system) and assessment of sales guys’ performance.
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- Managing truck inventory for selling on the road by setting up an individual site. Barcode, count, pick/pack, ship and sell the inventory carried in vehicles. Make inventory transfers between sites.
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- Print all transactions right from your vehicles with the help of a Bluetooth printer.
All in all, HandiFox is a long-term fix for multiple inefficiencies that sales reps have to wrestle with:
1. The app can operate without Internet on mobile devices, saving changes and synchronizing data once you are back online. HandiFox has your back even if the Internet connection is spotty or off.
2. It accelerates the search for items which are in stock getting rid of unproductive labor-time.
3. Field order taking is great for businesses on the move and when taking part in tradeshows.
4. HandiFox Online is integrated with QuickBooks online to improve the accuracy of inventory levels and invoicing for better financial management.
5. Quality-control of order shipping through barcode-enabled picking and packing minimizes the chance of mispacking goods and, as a result, having to deal with a disappointed customer.
6. No holdups or idle time due to a need of making confirmation calls or driving to the office.
7. A greater understanding of daily operations as well as the big picture for both the sales personnel and the business owner achieved through sales by item, customer, sales rep reports. All teams and stakeholders are kept updated with current inventory movements and performance to base their decisions.
Apps like HandiFox Online adapt real-world business rules into the logic that increases workplace efficiency and aids sales teams in becoming a multi-functional forefront of your company.
