Project Description: Increase User Value
GS Yuasa Battery Sales (UK) Ltd are a subsidiary of the world renowned GS Yuasa Corporation, who lead the industry in the development, manufacture and distribution of energy storage solutions.
GS Yuasa Battery Sales (UK) Ltd have been users of the PHOCAS Business Intelligence software system for many years.
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I met the then General Sales & Marketing Manager, James Hylton, when I introduced PHOCAS to the business many years ago. James has since become Managing Director, and after keeping in touch following my move away from Phocas, I recently had a call with James along with Paul (Finance & Operations Director) and Jon (General Sales & Marketing Manager – Auto, MC and Ind Comp Division), to understand how their users were interacting with the software and the value they were getting from it each day.
The users were interacting with the software on a daily basis and were enjoying some value, but during our conversation, I gave examples of how they could be getting more from it, but in less time.
Jon and I spent some time on a further call looking in detail at what his team were doing and the views available, and he quickly agreed to my help.
After speaking with members of his team individually, I used the knowledge gained to create a more succinct way for them to have valuable information. I then presented it back to them, in person, at their Sales Meeting in December 2021, and followed that up with short tutorial videos that they now have for reference if required.
Feedback after using new views for 1 month:
National Account Manager:
“It all works really well for me and is self-explanatory. I look at various Buying Groups with varying locations and it gives me all I need”
Following an unscheduled call from the NAM a week or so later, seeking guidance on something nonrelated, that was useful but time consuming to reproduce, I simplified the process for him to create it and received the following email comment that same morning:
“Spot-on, works great. Many thanks for that! Will make my life so much easier!”
Regional Sales Manager 1:
“I use the (view) a lot. It saves so much time and gives me everything I need”
Regional Sales Manager 2:
“Using the (view) saves me so much time. It’s all there and it helps me create an Agenda for meetings. It gives focal points to discuss, and I love the visual graphics. It’s had a big impact when I’ve shown it to customers in meetings. When they see the information, they tend to listen more and open up. Having Margin information now puts me in complete control if I’m asked for special deals. I can answer there and then. The work you’ve done has been great”.
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I remain in contact with clients on all levels to ensure that whatever is designed for them continues to add value going forward (not a quick flash in the pan).
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Feedback after using the views for 2 months:
Regional Sales Manager 1: “From my point of view it’s been great and totally changed how I approach meetings with my customers. I use the information from the (view) with snapshots on a presentation which the customers engage in fully”
Regional Sales Manager 2: “The Customer (view) I use ahead of every meeting to get an overview of where we are with the account and also sometimes to plan my meeting around and find an agenda (such as margin decline/missed sales opportunities etc.) The visual tables/graphs I have also found very useful in actually showing customers their yearly spend and how they have performed year on year, no getting away from it when it is in black and white”
“Having visibility of margins, rebates, backorders on this dashboard are also very useful and good to see the account is where it should be! (That being the plan!)”
“Sales Overview is equally as useful, and I use this dashboard as a tool to see where my area is overall and highlight any areas I need to work on. For example if a certain buying group is down on sales it prompts the question ”why?” and then from there I can delve deeper and see what I can do to turn it around…..Thank you very much for all your help it’s been much appreciated and made life lots easier! Thank you 😊”
“This is now saving me at least half a day a week just in prep time. Time that I can use productively elsewhere”
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“We have worked with Phocas for many years, and it has always been such an important part of our business. The Sales Division at GS Yuasa are so reliant on having all information at their fingertips and Phocas gives them this and more and life would be so much more complicated without it. After some initial meetings with Robin, he identified some key areas where we could get more benefit out of Phocas, so we worked closely with him over several weeks and he came back to us with some new dashboards. The new dashboards now allow us to access specific customer information in just a few clicks and the whole process is far more streamlined and focused. Having all the data in the system is one thing but having the correct dashboards in place to access it easily and quickly, is invaluable. Thank You”
Jon Pritchard – General Sales & Marketing Manager – Auto, MC and Ind Comp Division
All of the above in just a few days of consultancy.
To discuss your own challenges, please email: robin@vantagesoftuk.com
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