New employees are productive from day one
Bennie Miedema
Head of the Sales Office
5 questions for a Sofon User
1 What does DVC do?
“DVC manufactures and supplies promotional communication materials on canvas. We have been operating for 75 years and are the market leader in the Netherlands. We are also active internationally through agencies. Within Europe we are currently one of the five biggest flag manufacturers. As a company we focus on a good price/quality ratio, reliability of supply, innovation and flexibility. A flexible tool such as Sofon fits in well with these areas of focus.”
2 What does DVC use Sofon for?
“Our dealers were the first to start using Sofon. They are now able to make calculations themselves and no longer need to call our head office for this, saving time for themselves and our sales office. Once we had seen the positive effects for our dealers, we wanted our sales office and export department to start working with Sofon too.”
3 What has changed since using Sofon?
“Before we began using Sofon there was a great deal of duplicate work: one person noted down the customer’s wishes on paper. Another produced the quotation. A third person then checked the quotation. Now the productivity of our employees is much higher. They get more done and Sofon allows them to work more quickly and accurately. An employee in the sales office is able to generate a quotation in just a few minutes, while the customer is on the telephone. The customer can assess the quotation immediately and business can therefore be done directly. This also ensures that a customer is not so quick to request a quotation from a competitor and that makes a difference in terms of sales. Also, even if a competing quotation is requested, we are much quicker to respond. This ensures that we make a good impression in any case. We are complimented on this every day.”
4 Does Sofon offer added value in the current economic situation?
“At present we have 15 to 20% more orders than last year. In troubled economic times people order less, but do so more often. This means that our sales office has more work. Sofon is the perfect tool for dealing with this pressure. We have gained so much time through Sofon that we get more done with fewer people and also obtain more orders. We are almost no longer able to imagine what life would be like without Sofon.”
5 Do you see other advantages?
“By creating a link between Sofon and CRM we are working more professionally as a company. Previously every employee had his or her ‘own’ customers. Now there is more interchangeability. If a customer calls, his details are no longer only familiar to one colleague, but to all colleagues. This enables us to offer our customers better service. New employees are also productive at an earlier stage. In the past, an employee was given information to learn about our products for a period of six weeks. After 10 to 15 weeks an employee was able to become truly productive and speak to customers on the telephone. I now let people start entering orders straight away. Thanks to Sofon, they are therefore productive from day one and, after six weeks, an employee is already able to sell on the telephone. This allows us to generate more sales and the pressure on colleagues is relieved."