Sunbelt Power Controls is a leading manufacturer of custom electrical motor controls for industrial-sized sump pumps that you would find in metropolitan high rises, office buildings, and parking garages. It’s no small wonder that their product SKU catalog features hundreds of different options and sizes. So when a customer calls for a specific price quote, there’s no time to spare, or you jeopardize the sale.
Giving price quotes is the single most important process I perform in my company, said Rich Kreekon, Sunbelt’s owner.
“It’s the beginning of our business. If it’s not done properly, it can cost us an order, loss of money on an order, or even the greater loss of a good customer.” Sunbelt was ready to pump up the power of its pricing system through intuitive technology that would bring significant returns.
Technology
A transformation was not only in order for Sunbelt and its sustainable business, but also its outdated data management and pricing process. You see, in the old days, Rich used an Excel spreadsheet to help him build price quotes. Plus, he was the only person in the company able to generate an accurate quote. The process was long, tedious, and very inflexible. Just the macros alone became cumbersome and time consuming and the burden was being felt company wide. “My customers either fax or call us with their specific requests, and generally expect a complete response within 24 hours or less. Many customers want a price while I’m still talking to them on the phone. Since these controls cost thousands of dollars, a small mistake can be very expensive,” Rich explains.
All that has changed since MightyData designed a FileMaker database to handle Sunbelt’s quotation process. FileMaker Pro is a relational database application designed to help manage and share information in the real world. It’s a fast and easy software system for creating databases that are completely cross-platform on Macintosh and Windows.
Transformation
The new pricing system is fast, simple, and easy to use. But here’s the kicker: anyone at Sunbelt can quickly generate quotes from this powerful database—all you need is 15 minutes of training. “With my new FileMaker Pro quotation program, I’m able to construct quotations almost as fast as the customer can talk,” Rich attests.
With a few exceptions, I can email the quote to the customer as we’re exchanging goodbyes.
“It has greatly relieved my stress factor in the workplace,” Rich further explains. “It has cut down on errors, and created an environment where we’re able to and want to produce quotations as quickly as possible.” Since Sunbelt began using the FileMaker quotation system, Rich reports that Sunbelt’s response time to a customer’s quote request has increased by 100 percent, and accuracy has improved from 80 percent to more than 95 percent.
Now that’s how you pump up the power, not the paperwork.