Overview
Foremost Groups is a privately held company that started its business importing wood cabinetry and bathroom fixtures for theretail market. Since its founding, the company has expanded its scope, establishing four product divisions – bath furnishings, indoor furniture, outdoor furniture, and food service equipment. Foremost Groups has offices and distribution centers throughout the U.S. and Canada.
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Objectives
Simplify the ordering process, speed up delivery of marketing materials to reps and relieve stress on marketing personnel.
Challenge
For years, Foremost successfully handled all sales and marketing literature requests manually: a marketing coordinator or administrative staff person would simply receive the call, locate the requested materials from a warehouse shelf and mail them out. But as the company began to grow, this process became increasingly inefficient. Marketers and other staff were continuously distracted by hundreds of field requests for materials and were wasting about 30 hours per week trying to find the materials in a now crowded warehouse and then shipping them out piecemeal.
“This time consuming process was stressing our marketing department and stealing employees’ attention away from strategic planning,” said Glen Paporello, Foremost’s Vice President of Marketing Services.
In addition to the drain on marketing, sales reps from hundreds of distributors nationwide often had to wait weeks to receive the materials they requested, or worse, never received them at all because the company unknowingly ran out of the requested piece. Without the appropriate sales collateral on hand at distributor and retail showrooms, sales would slow.
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TGI Solution
After searching for solutions, Foremost learned of TGI, a multi-channel marketing services company that had solved challenges like this one before. TGI knew how to streamline the company’s fulfillment process and, ultimately, get sales back on track.
In less than two months, TGI established a clean, completely organized fulfillment process plus implemented an advanced automated online marketing collateral ordering system. So intuitive, it took just 30 minutes to train users how to use the system.
“The system is absolutely fantastic, and really easy to use,” added Paporello. “It follows a consumer-type model with a shopping cart and saved personal profiles.”
TGI’s first step was to take inventory of all existing, printed marketing collateral. Once it was all cataloged into a database, TGI transferred everything to a designated location. Then TGI created the Foremost Marcore web site where the company’s direct retail sales reps as well as all of its wholesale distributors nationwide would be able to search for, select, order, and track marketing materials.
David Bruce, Foremost Executive Vice President, sums it up this way: “TGI’s system has allowed us to more effectively process requests for our various marketing collateral. Resources that used to be dedicated to the process of ordering, shipping and tracking are now being more effectively utilized elsewhere inside the company. At the same time, we have greater visibility as to where our collateral is going, what it’s being used for, and who is requesting it most often (and least often) so our sales managers can now hold our sales reps more accountable for the amount of collateral they request, versus the sales, or lack thereof, in their territory.”
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Results
Foremost has gained a number of valuable business benefits since implementing TGI’s comprehensive solution. Some of these include:
→ Greater Control. TGI now manages Foremost’s marketing material and samples stock, and provides management with usage reports monthly, or on an as-needed basis, giving the company a 360-degree view of its materials inventory and usage patterns – i.e., what is left in inventory, what is ordered most frequently and when, where materials are being shipped, and to whom. Marketing can run dozens of queries for customized reports, and determine material usage by category, by brand, by retailer….even by individual sales rep. As a result, the well-informed marketing team can now forecast how many pieces of which materials will be needed at any point during the year so collateral is always available.
→ Major Savings. The new TGI-managed process also helps control print costs by preventing wasteful over-printing. In addition to the cost savings, one of the greatest benefits of the new system is time savings – Foremost is saving 30-40 hours per week. “Marketing can now focus, and remain focused, on strategic initiatives rather than running around the warehouse looking for brochures for sales reps. The marketing department, for one, is very happy with this new system,” smiled Paporello.
David Bruce, Foremost Executive Vice President, sums it up this way: “TGI’s system has allowed us to more effectively process requests for our various marketing collateral. Resources that used to be dedicated to the process of ordering, shipping and tracking are now being more effectively utilized elsewhere inside the company. At the same time, we have greater visibility as to where our collateral is going, what it’s being used for, and who is requesting it most often (and least often) so our sales managers can now hold our sales reps more accountable for the amount of collateral they request, versus the sales, or lack thereof, in their territory.”
→ Improved Service. Foremost’s sales reps are equally as enthusiastic about the new system. Whether they are in California or Canada, whether they are from major retailers or distributors, Foremost reps can order marketing materials 24 x 7 and know that they will receive them on time with requests now handled in days rather than weeks. All users receive order tracking information so they know exactly when they will receive their orders, and the system automatically notifies users by email as new marketing materials are available so they always have access to the latest materials. “Now, when a customer or rep places an order,” added Bruce, “they get instant feedback. It’s an added service tool for our customers and sales reps.”
Top-line executives have also benefitted directly from the new system. Now they can send marketing materials directly to trade shows and conferences rather than carrying them out on the plane. “I frequently speak at conferences and had to carry large boxes of collateral with me. Now, I just click and ship the materials I need to my destination. It’s great!” Bruce concluded.