Wholesale Way

As businesses lower their prices and start to offer more and more items for sale, the retail industry becomes increasingly competitive. There are also high levels of staff turnover within retail. And as if these two factors weren’t hard enough for businesses to deal with, customers are demanding levels of service higher than anything in the past two decades. However an EPoS system can help businesses to cut down their costs and time spent on training new staff members.

But how is it possible that a machine like the EPoS system can cut down the time it takes to train new employees whilst keeping customer service standards high? It works by doing tens of jobs all on one terminal at the point of sale.

There are so many different things that you will be trained on when you get a job in retail. From working the till to processing credit card transactions, managing stock levels to ordering and deliveries. Then you will be told about customer service. This is fundamental to success in the retail industry as you only sell if you treat your customers properly. This is because your customers will understand slow transactions when you are training so long as you make sure to smile at them and be polite.

You can reduce the number of hours that you have to spend training new staff when you use an EPoS system. You can test out the EPoS system on your existing staff and if they can use it easily, then anyone will be able to. You can focus your training schedule on the piece of technology because through it you will be covering all of the factors mentioned above including stock levels and payment processes.

The system can give prompts to staff which will help with your training program. Your till screen can display reminders such as checking for ID or asking if the customer wants to purchase additional batteries for their appliances which makes it easier for the staff. Customers are also given quicker service with the EPoS machine because they do not have to wait for their change to be added up or mistakes with totals to be rectified because everything is electronic. Your staff will be able to offer customers better service when they have these tools to hand and have been trained using the EPoS system.

Pharmaceutical companies understand how tough life can be. Just think how many different bosses they have to answer to, some of whom have very little to do with a bottom-line result. While they are trying to generate and develop meaningful relationships with the most important clients while determining how best to handle key account management, they also have to address the demands and whines of regulators, auditors and other forces.

Key account management tactics are of critical importance to a pharmaceutical company and the tactics must be administered creatively and flexibly, but still correctly. The key account sometimes has several different points of communication within the pharmaceutical company and this can lead to a certain amount of confusion if not handled correctly. However, it is also true to say that these individual “points” could view the key account from different perspectives, depending upon the job level and/or driving force.

Invariably, pharma consulting tells us that the front-line sales executive may or may not be motivated by revenue levels and there is danger that he or she may not have the ultimate interests of the employer, the company, at heart. It may not be very obvious and certainly not “cut and dried” but if it is not recognised, the overall relationship between the two companies can be significantly affected.

Key accounts provide a level of cash flow-based stability to a pharmaceutical company that is difficult to replicate. The designation of “key” account should not, however, be given lightly, regardless of the potential. It should never be decided based on scale alone, and many other factors must be taken into consideration. In certain circumstances, a high-volume account could net low returns at the bottom line, due to higher than average maintenance costs or very narrow margins.

A well-known metric is applied in most business situations, telling us that 80% of the value is often supplied by only 20% of the clients. Insofar as this is true, a potential “key” account should be categorised and understood before an approach is determined. A number of different layers of key account management could exist within a typical organisation and all tiers of management, especially those who regularly interact with clients, must receive correct training in the techniques required to handle every level and type of account.

There are several ways to look at whether a client qualifies as a key account or not including total volume of sales, percentage allocation of profits, the rate at which the company is growing compared to average and by comparison to others across the board.

A pharmaceutical consulting firm fully understands that not all clients are created alike and further, that not all key accounts are alike, either. In most cases, pharmaceutical consultants have seen how to handle these different levels of accounts successfully and can help to tutor the company’s various staffing elements accordingly. A critical “mission” statement should be determined for each and every one of the pharmaceutical company’s clients, detailing the terms of the relationship accurately. There should be no “stock” description, but as each key account is of elevated importance to the company’s existence, all staff members must be trained to recognise the difference between “apples and oranges.”

Alan Gillies is the Managing Director of L2L Consulting, specialising in enabling pharmaceutical companies to achieve new heights of productivity and performance, throughout all levels of management and revenue generating activities.