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Visit reporting time reduced by 60 minutes a day |
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Support and helpdesk calls decreased by 50% |
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Increased efficiency of Sales team operations |
Hoffmann Group, founded 101 years ago, is a family of companies active in the trade and manufacturing of professional quality tools and factory equipment. They also offer associated consultancy and services. As Europe’s market leader in the field of manufacturing tools, Hoffmann Group has a global presence in more than 50 countries with over 3500 employees.
It offers more than 85,000 products from 500 of the world’s leading manufacturers. Hoffmann’s product portfolio includes hand tools, cutting tools, workstations, and storage options.
Before switching to Resco, the Hoffmann Group had been using Microsoft Outlook Client with a local SQL database, which had many limitations. The biggest one was the lack of offline functionality. Sales reps couldn’t efficiently input and sync data in the field. They could only do it in the evening, once they returned to their office or home.
If they needed to quickly forward information, for example to the Inside Sales team, they had to make phone calls. Moreover, the synchronization process was slow – it took about 15 minutes to switch from offline to online mode and back, and even more if the Internet connection wasn’t strong enough.
They soon realized they need a new mobile solution – one that allows sales reps to perform their tasks offline, right in the field. One that allows them to forward information in real time, leading to increased productivity. And one that would not only directly connect to their Microsoft Dynamics 365, but also integrate with Microsoft Exchange as well.
After researching several possible solutions, the easy and user-friendly handling of the app made Resco Mobile Sales the ultimate solution for Hoffmann Group. The company’s system admins were also excited about the flexible customizing and administration capabilities of Woodford, as well as the direct Dynamics 365 integration.
The customization of all entities used in Dynamics 365 and Resco was initially done by an implementation partner, Cosmo Consult, with whom they were working on the project at the time.
Since the customization was really straightforward, we customized all entities, mainly those of the sales module. We created various views and forms, enabled list editing, used a lot of Onload/Change rules and JavaScript to implement business logic. Furthermore, we tweaked the design and enabled Map view, Exchange integration, and Web resources, said Marcel Federlein, Inhouse CRM Consultant at Hoffmann Group
Before we implemented the Resco mobile app, our sales reps needed to be at home after their daily visits to document and follow up their visit reports on a notebook. Now with the app, they can do it during the day straight after each visit.
After forwarding the visit report to our Inside Sales department, they can take further action, like creating a quote for the customers. Consequently, potential follow-ups are then completed faster, bringing us great advantage through gain of time and information.
Thanks to the app’s offline capabilities, sales reps can easily check the account information they need (e.g. activity history, sales report figures) shortly before an appointment, even if there’s no internet connection.
We can deal with customer concerns more effectively than ever before. Since implementing the Resco mobile app, support efforts and helpdesk calls have decreased by 50%.
The sales team utilizes Resco Mobile Sales for all aspects of their customer visits: planning, execution, reporting, documentation, and tracking. They also use it for route planning, quote tracking, activity and contact management, as well as data analysis.
Our users tell us that the visit reporting time has been reduced by at least 30 to 60 minutes per day. Now they can use this extra time to get other important work done or take even more visits.
Google Maps is integrated in the app to ensure efficient navigation, while the app’s Map view assists users in planning sales routes. By using the Calendar and Exchange integration, sales reps can easily add appointments and send invitations to their contacts.
The improved data quality provides our management with better reporting possibilities and insight. We were surprised how much the user liked the app.
While the Hoffman Group’s main user group is the Sales team, they are planning to further customize and distribute the app to other departments as well – namely to Marketing and Internal Sales. The latter even found it easier to work with Resco than with the Dynamics 365 web client.
They are also planning to distribute Resco Inspections to their sales reps. By leveraging the questionnaires, they are planning to gather more information about customers. Which will ultimately support the work of the Marketing team too, as it would provide them with more actionable insights.