The Issues Involved
Using the SellingPoint System,
successful manufacturers are making it
easy to work with a network of dealers,
representatives, and sales people.
Traditionally, manufacturers have
struggled with these issues:
- How do we keep our sales force
up to date, ensuring that they are
selling what we want them to sell;
nothing more, nothing less?
- How do we collect orders
accurately? Some orders are
even doodled on napkins. Going
from order to manufacturing is no
where near streamlined.
- Is it possible for our engineers
to enforce rules during the ordering
process? We are tired of
orders coming in that cannot be
manufactured or must be
reengineered.
- How can we publish different
product lines to each of our dealers
and easily manage the process of
keeping those lines up to date?
- How can we easily manage dealer
orders?
SellingPoint not only addresses every
one of these issues, but provides
effective tools to successfully meet
these challenges right out of the box.
SellingPoint is able to overcome these
barriers with a combination of powerful
software and the internet.
Powerful Software
The SellingPoint Product Manager
acts as the hub of the SellingPoint
System. It provides the crucial
link between the manufacturer and
dealer. Administrative features
throughout the Product Manager
make it easy to coordinate dealers,
whether its publishing catalogs to them
or accepting their orders.
Combined with Microvellum's line of
software, orders from SellingPoint are
converted into jobs that can be run on
the shop floor. This means it's
possible to run an order directly from
the customer to the machines without
requiring human intervention.
How SellingPoint Uses the Internet
When it comes to order entry, many view
the Internet as a buzz word with little
practical value in their business.
Executives view the Internet as a place
to advertise, but nothing more.
Hence, the concept of using the Internet
in a manufacturing environment is almost
instantly dismissed as nonessential.
It's important to note, however, that
SellingPoint takes the power of the
Internet to a new level and leverages
that power to do incredible things for a
manufacturing business. Most
manufacturers today manage catalogs and
orders via traditional methods such as
fax, postal mail, and printed material.
Although used widely, there are
limitations to this traditional
approach:
- Printed material goes out of
date quickly and is costly to
replace
- The lag time involved to
physically mail product catalogs can
cause discrepancies in orders
- There is no practical way to
enforce engineering rules when
customizing an order
- Orders cannot be check for
errors until they get back to the
manufacturer
SellingPoint simply uses the Internet
as a way of replacing the fax, printed
media, and postal mailing. It's
like having a direct link to dealers so
that everyone is on "the same page at
the same time". Instead of having
a printed catalog and paper forms to
order with, a dealer has a web site
populated with the latest products in a
manufacturer's offering. All
engineering rules are enforced as
products are customized and ordered
through the web site. These orders
are verified and electronically
transferred instantly back to the
manufacturer.
So the thought that SellingPoint uses
the Internet is not a reason to dismiss
it's practicality. Using the
latest in internet technology,
SellingPoint provides live communication
between a manufacturer, dealers, and
customers. It elevates automation
to a level unseen before. And it
streamlines business operations while
lowering total cost of ownership.
This means most businesses loose money
by not using SellingPoint in their
dealer network.
 How
the SellingPoint System Works in a
Dealer Network
- Using the SellingPoint Product Manager's
powerful import tools,
automatically import a product library from
Microvellum software with a couple clicks of
the mouse. This transfers all product
info and manufacturing data into a single
file called a SellingPoint Product Catalog.
- With another couple clicks of the mouse,
upload that SellingPoint Product Catalog
to a SellingPoint Online Store.
These stores can be linked up with a
dealer's existing web site.
SellingPoint gives you the control necessary
to manage multiple online stores, one store
for each dealer.
- Customer's of the dealer can visit the
SellingPoint Online Store. The
dealer can specify custom price adjustments
for each customer causing prices throughout
the entire site to be readjusted
dynamically.
- The customer adds customized products to
their order. During the customization
process, all engineering rules are enforced
meaning the customer cannot order something
that cannot be manufactured. Alternatively,
the dealer can enter customized orders
himself in case a customer cannot order
online themselves.
- The orders are sent back to the SellingPoint Product Manager
. This process is as simple as
checking your email. SellingPoint has
the tools to manage all orders coming in
across a dealer network, in addition to
easily reviewing customer info, order
details, and store status.
- With a single click of the mouse, export
an order to Microvellum. SellingPoint
automatically creates a Microvellum
Job which contains everything necessary to
manufacture all customized products in the
order.
- From Microvellum's software, send the
job to machines on the shop floor.
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