Challenge
The main challenge Livernois and her team had to deal with involved a sample center the company maintained at its warehouse in Greenville, NC. This center, known as the FOCUS Center, provides samples of products to sales reps, customers, potential new customers, and users. The only access point to request samples was within an internal CRM system.
Sales reps would have to request samples to be shipped to customers by entering a Sample Request Form through the CRM system, which would then be processed and shipped from the FOCUS Center.
The Center was servicing everything related to samples, as well as conference/tradeshow materials and additional product requests for distributors. That's quite an administrative task for the reps to take on, especially for some of the company’s larger customers—it could take them many hours every week to enter in sample requests. Livernois and the FOCUS Center team needed to solve that problem and trim the time it took reps to enter sample requests so they could be out in the field acquiring new business and working with customers face-to-face.
Solution
To address this situation, Livernois and her team decided they needed a self-serve platform for customers, through which they could shop and request free samples for their end users. Overall, the group was outgrowing space in the FOCUS Center, as well taking too much of the the staff’s bandwidth and sales representatives’ time. Outsourcing this project to alleviate all of these burdens seemed like a good remedy. In addition, the team wanted to provide customers with the ability to shop, ship, and sample independently. What was most important for the company was that they wanted customers to feel empowered and free to request samples for their customers, thus nurturing a more personal experience.
Setting Up the Storefront
The PFL direct mail solution was already in place at Attends, so Livernois and her team used it to serve those customers by setting up a storefront for them, with their own login, so they could request and order samples easily.
The customer can go into the PFL portal—which is called the “Attends Online Sample Store”—and the customer can request whatever samples they need sent. There’s even an option for them to include a customized insert card that says, "Here are some free samples. If you like these products, call us." It's branded with the customer’s logo or store slogan. The homecare dealer can then work with that customer to fill their requests with a prescription or through Medicaid, however they get the products through their benefits.
And PFL not only hosts and runs the storefront. The company also sends over cases of their products to PFL, which warehouses them, kits them into samples, stores it all in the inventory, and processes and ships when requests come in.
Results
By implementing the PFL platform, the company was able to cut back on the manpower needed to accomplish all this work. Giving customers the freedom to use the online sample store has trimmed hours of time-consuming data entry for the sales team, as well as lessened the workload in the FOCUS Center. This means customers can sample the products before the providers process their insurance benefits. This prevents them from receiving a month’s worth of supplies that could potentially be the wrong product or size. It also eliminates the need to go back to the prescribing physician for new paperwork.
According to Livernois, it became very successful, very quickly, and customers liked the process very much. “Customers love it,” she says. “They love the freedom to be able to easily offer these products for their customers.” Another aspect of the PFL-based solution that she likes is that everything is shipped in very discrete packaging. “When the customer opens the box,” she explains, “they have the samples, but they also have a card that informs them that the local homecare dealer provided them with the samples.” It also lists contact information should they have questions about the product or feedback. This way they know where it came from and who to contact as a follow-up.
“Customers love it. [...] When the customer opens the box,they have the samples, but they also have a card that informs them that the local homecare dealer provided them with the samples.”
—Jamie Livernois, Senior Manager, Sales Operations and Government Administration, Attindas
Huge Impact on Dealers
As far as the process goes, the main impact was freeing up time in the FOCUS Center and for the sales team. The services provided by PFL have had a huge impact on how Attends’ dealers operate daily. Having the tracking information housed on one website is also a huge plus. They also love the custom insert card we can do, which lets their customers know who to call with questions or to place orders.
Over the years they have found, that the time saved by the sales team has allowed them to sell and work with customers more. Further, the online sample store has become a real selling point with customers. Offering them the ability to request free samples to ship directly to their consumers is a win-win all around.
On a quarterly basis, the team runs order history reports to keep a close watch on customer-request habits: the monitoring of how products accessed compares with what that customer is actually purchasing. Attends wants to be sure its customers are able to request products that will ultimately result in sales. It has become clear that some of their top purchasing customers are the most frequent users of the sample process.
Now Widely Available
When they launched the PFL platform, it was something the team was not really familiar with. They started out with a limited amount of products and seat licenses. So, its use was very limited at first, and only top customers had access to the storefront. To date, though, it has grown quite a bit and most of the Attends product line is now available on the PFL platform.
Over the years they have found, that the time saved by the sales team has allowed them to sell and work with customers more. Further, the online sample store has become a real selling point with customers. Offering them the ability to request free samples to ship directly to their consumers is a win-win all around.
