ABV Brands is a premium spirits marketer and distributor in South Africa that sells international brands such as Jim Beam Bourbon, Laphroaig Islay Malt Whisky, Russian Standard Vodka and Maker's Mark Bourbon. The company has a sales team that services around 5000 customers.
"We often feel like we're fighting a David and Goliath battle, as we are up against the big brands," says ABV's MD and key accounts director, Daniel Hawkins. "Our challenge is to change the mind-set of South African retailers, who usually tend to favour larger, alcohol suppliers."
In line with its aggressive growth plan, it needed to resolve a common problem experienced by smaller distributors: how to increase sales performance and motivate a comparatively small team to perform at its optimum level. Africa is one of the fastest growing markets for premium brands and the company aims to help pioneer and champion this market.
"As we are competing with the big spending brands, it is becoming even more critically important to monitor our sales effort - from in-store display and merchandising right through to sales calls, stock levels and repeat orders. We needed a solution that was simple to use but which could do everything, from tracking our sales performance to monitoring our competitor's activity and assisting with sales conversion."
Having explored various sales management systems and, after receiving a strong recommendation from Namaqua Wines, which has transformed its business using this new software, ABV contacted Field Office about its HoneyBee sales management software.
The company had created the software as an all-in-one tablet-based solution to help sales managers, to monitor sales and sales rep activity through its web application. It assists the reps with their customer management and service in real time. It also allows sales managers and reps to be more focussed, to work faster and smarter, therefore optimising sales, while empowering sales staff at the same time. Training for the web application takes five minutes and its subscription is affordable at R700 per sales rep per month.
"Our main aim is to increase our conversion rate and the app has done just that," explains Hawkins. "Our rate has gone from 40% to 55% in just three months, which is an excellent result. We are now working with Field Office to plan our sales growth."
The application helps give the reps the right level of responsibility and makes them accountable. "We are not using it as a 'big brother' tool, although we can see who is performing best and who isn't, it helps us to monitor what's going on all the time and that is invaluable."
Many of the company's reps have said the android tablet makes them appear more professional when they approach a customer and this helps their confidence levels too. "Not only is the application helping our reps in their work, but it is also enabling them to give prompt feedback to the customers and hence better customer service. Our customer relationships have improved because our customers now feel more valued. They are getting more attention - and it is more accurate too. This is not only key in our industry, but it helps position us as even more professional and authoritative in the market and this is important when competing with the bigger players.
"The company plans to double its sales force in the next year and we see the app being instrumental in helping us manage that growth and our sales force. We are working with Field Office now to hone the product to suit our aggressive growth plan," concludes Hawkins.
Field Office's MD, Sam Clarke adds, "The difference is that we're not a reseller of another company's software, we developed the software and we maintain the system. This means that when necessary, we can then tailor it for specific and individual client needs. By offering something as simple as a custom report or CRM integration, our 'off-the-shelf' software satisfies the customer needs as if they had invested in bespoke software ... and this differentiates the offering significantly."
For more information, visit: www.thefieldoffice.co.za
