{"id":6521,"date":"2004-10-11T16:10:52","date_gmt":"2004-10-11T16:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\/prosales\/article\/client-data_o"},"modified":"2004-10-11T16:10:52","modified_gmt":"2004-10-11T16:10:52","slug":"client-data_o","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\/prosales\/business\/sales\/client-data_o\/","title":{"rendered":"Client Data"},"content":{"rendered":"\r<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\r With SKU counts on the rise and customer service needs increasing, harnessing the power of computer technology is becoming vitally important for pro dealers both large and small, and many companies are now taking advantage of databases and related software programs to better integrate their business models, track customers&#8217; activities, and proactively market products and services.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\r Consider the nation&#8217;s largest pro dealer, Raleigh, N.C.\u2013based Stock Building Supply, which had sales of $2.7 billion in 2003. Earlier this year, the company completed a migration of 26 legacy systems it inherited through nearly as many acquisitions to a single enterprise resource planning (ERP) system from NxTrend Technology in Colorado Springs, Colo. A Progress Software Corp. relational database serves as the repository for the ERP system, housing customer data that is now centralized and capable of being queried in ways that weren&#8217;t possible previously, notes Mike Brooks, vice president of information systems and technology at Stock.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\r With all customer data in that single database, Stock can organize and analyze data according to the various customer segments it serves, including framers, builders, repair and remodel contractors, light commercial, and so on. \u201cNow we have 240 locations on one system, one iteration of the database, one customer file, one item file and, at any given time, about 3,000 users,\u201d Brooks says. Data can be sorted according to revenue and profitability by customer segment, and to analyze which customers are buying which products. \u201cWe can tie our budgeting process to that, as well as different promotional programs. We really have a lot of ways to look at the data that we never had before,\u201d Brooks says.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\r The system also allows for granular tracking of sales to individual customers, including when a customer purchases specific SKUs for a particular job, the price, the time materials left a Stock Building Supply location, and the truck those materials were on. Additionally, Stock recently launched a new add-on module to the ERP system, a customer portal\u2014or private Web site\u2014to let customers review their account status, request invoice copies, and more. It was enhanced last month and customers can now download this data into their QuickBooks accounting software. \u201cWe&#8217;re trying to make smaller businesses better by providing information back to them,\u201d Brooks says.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\r As another example, Cox Hardware and Lumber, a Houston-based dealer with 29 locations, is using a Microsoft Access database to enhance its knowledge and understanding about its customers in order to serve them better and to anticipate their requirements. While the company&#8217;s existing POS system captured purchasing information, the data wasn&#8217;t housed in a central location where it could be queried for business analysis purposes. \u201cOur goal was [the ability to generate] a single-page report that could give a synopsis of where the account is in terms of our relationship and revenues and what we thought we could accomplish that year,\u201d says owner Virgil Cox.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\r Once that functionality was in place, Cox Hardware also began using the system to develop lists of suggested sales calls for salespeople to make using the same types of information. \u201cWe can start with intelligent suggestions, such as \u2018This is the list of people we haven&#8217;t talked to in six months,&#8217;\u201d Cox says. And it&#8217;s even better than an expensive customer relationship management (CRM) package, he adds. \u201cCRM is big and expensive, whereas this is small and cheap,\u201d he says. The database project cost about $5,000 and paid for itself within two months.\u201d <i>\u2014Tom Smith is an Amherst, N.Y.\u2013based freelance writer.<\/i><\/p>\r<\/div> \r","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With SKU counts on the rise and customer service needs increasing, harnessing the power of computer technology is becoming vitally important for pro dealers both large and small, and many companies are now taking advantage of databases and related software programs to better integrate their business models, track customers&#8217; activities, and proactively market products and 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