|
Located in Portland, Oregon, with over 1,000 employees, adidas America produces athletic footwear, apparel, accessories and equipment products. With roots reaching back to 1949, adidas America is part of a larger organization that strives to be the global leader in the sporting goods industry. adidas products are available in virtually every country.
Extending innovation into the sales process. A leader in its industry, adidas America recognized that it could increase its sales potential by automating many components of the sales process. Its team of 200 sales representatives had been using BlackBerry® handheld devices for email. Tim Oligmueller, sales force automation manager for adidas America, began researching ideas to put the handheld devices to greater use. Oligmueller wanted to reduce the number of calls from sales representatives in the field to check on product availability, enabling them to capture “at-once” business and show customers that the company is on the cutting edge not only in footwear and apparel design, but also in customer service.
Recognizing inefficiencies in the sales process. Before implementing its wireless sales force automation solution, the company’s sales representatives were required to borrow a customer’s phone or use their personal mobile phone to check warehouse inventory. The company realized that this slowed sales momentum.
“We wanted to strike while the iron is hot, while the enthusiasm is there for the product,” Oligmueller said. “Real-time wireless access is important because we want the customer to see that we have immediate access to data to meet their needs.”
Lacking wireless capability, some sales representatives would prepare for a meeting with a customer by checking inventory before they left the office. However, if an item wasn’t available when the sales representative returned to the office, they would have to contact the customer to change the order.
The company’s 65 customer service representatives (CSRs) were also affected by an inefficient pre-wireless sales process. Getting calls from sales representatives in the field to check on inventory interrupted their work and affected order processing times.
Examining wireless and its alternatives. Before implementing a wireless solution, adidas America equipped its sales representatives with laptops that were synchronized just before a customer visit, and the company also tried providing a Web interface into the inventory system. Neither solution was dynamic enough for the company’s needs.
adidas America quickly realized that real-time wireless access on a handheld device was the only effective solution. Deploying a wireless Sales Force Automation solution.
At the foundation of adidas America’s wireless solution is Atlas2Go, an internally developed sales force automation application. The custom wireless application runs on the sales representatives’ BlackBerry devices and performs real-time inventory queries into the company’s SAP application data over AT&T’s wireless network. Sales reps can view up-to-date inventory information, and can choose to receive an email with inventory status, which they can then forward to their customer.
adidas America chose AT&T, formerly Cingular, over other wireless carriers for several key reasons. “Our relationship was a big factor,” Oligmueller emphasized. “We needed a company we could count on, someone who would be a good partner worldwide.”
Oligmueller was also pleased to work with a company that provided superior enterprise customer support at each phase of the project, and a secure and stable platform for sending sensitive sales information wirelessly.
Realizing tangible benefits. The wireless sales force automation solution has provided adidas America with valuable benefits. Sales representatives can more quickly and easily check inventory from the field while providing improved customer service. Back-office staff work more efficiently with fewer interruptions from sales representatives. Oligmueller notes that the adidas inventory system receives nearly 120 wireless queries each day, saving time otherwise spent by phone calls between sales and back-office staff.
Since sales representatives have up-todate inventory information, there’s little room for error when orders are placed. And sales representatives rarely need to call customers to modify an order based on changes in product availability. The improved responsiveness has proved appealing to customers.
For both sales and back-office staff, the level of frustration has clearly decreased, improving employee satisfaction. adidas America is also able to show customers that the company is on the leading edge and is utilizing technology that its competitors haven’t yet deployed.
|
