The majority of Paul Murray’s customers are pharmacies. The reps are primarily involved in taking orders and processing credits, but are also engaged with merchandising activities. They also carry stock in the back of their cars to enable them to fulfil some of the orders taken directly
The challenge
Prior to the introduction of MiniSell, Paul Murray’s sales reps had been using the Symbol PDT3100 for order capture, and although this had proved to be robust over many years, it provided limited information to the reps and did not allow them to transmit their orders during the working day.
Having had the Symbol PDT3100 based system for over 10 years, there were a number of features that Paul Murray were keen to retain. The customer services department had been provided with a daily order messages report, which detailed new prospective customers and any additional order notes that the reps needed to add. Furthermore on the handhelds, the reps received a daily performance report showing them the previous day’s sales figures for each of the sales reps.
The challenge for the MiniSell development team was to build these and other features into the core MiniSell application, thus providing an exact fit with Paul Murray’s sales processes, whilst at the same time addressing weaknesses that were inherent in their existing handheld system.
Equipped with Opticon H-19A Windows Mobile 6 devices, the company’s reps now receive a daily database update from the Microsoft Dynamic NAV ERP, including stock, pricing and customer data, from the MiniSell Databridge.
They are now able to send orders back the office at anytime via a high speed GPRS/3G connection. This invariably means that the head office warehouse is able to receive a steady flow of orders throughout the day, reducing the time it takes to despatch their orders.
In turn, the Databridge is updated via an automatic, daily export from Microsoft Dynamics (NAV) ERP application. The incoming data is then processed by the MiniSell Databridge’s customised NAV import/export adaptor.
Elimination of inefficiencies and greater control
The MiniSell Databridge is able to process and filter Paul Murray’s data with far greater precision than the previous sales ordering taking software and this has eliminated many of the old system’s inefficiencies.
For some customers, Paul Murray restricts the products that they are able to order. Before the introduction of MiniSell, head office had to rely on a product exclusion report that listed which customers had been sold the restricted products. With the MiniSell Databridge filtering routines the reps are only able to add products to an order which have been authorised. This has inevitably reduced order lead-times and the number of credits notes being issued to customers for incorrectly despatched products.
MiniSell has also increased the level of reporting that is available to the sales reps via their handhelds. The reps are now able to access a complete order summary at any stage of the order process. This report can then be sorted by a number of filters including product group, price code and category type.
The Databridge management software has been developed to provide greater control for orders and credits released for processing preventing orders that have already been fulfilled by the rep, or by one of company’s distributors, from being exported to the company’s Navision supply chain system and then being duplicated by the warehouse.
These incoming credits can then be generated in PDF format via the Databridge manager. Once printed credits can be deleted from the Databridge and this ensures that they are kept apart from the orders that are processed directly via Navision.
Nick Hayton, Paul Murray’s sales director comments:
"The change to MiniSell from the Symbol based system has allowed the company to step up a level with the supply of information to our sales team and also to our customers. The implementation and launch of MiniSell was very smooth which is a credit to the staff of Aspin."
By investing in MiniSell, Paul Murray PLC will be able to reap the benefits of a solution that, as a fully modular product, has the scope to grow with the demands of its sales process. Already, within a few weeks of MiniSell going live, there have been tangible improvements in the despatch cycle, which have reduced order lead-times and cost of sale, and increased the amount of information available to the reps, resulting in increased levels of customer service.
Company Profile:
Established in 1963, and based in Chandlers Ford, Hampshire, Paul Murray PLC has developed an extensive portfolio of brands including Safe and Sound Health, Murray’s Manicure, Miners Cosmetics, Junior Macare baby, Head Girl hair accessories and Meridiana Bathroom products. Today the company’s sales force serves thousands of pharmacies across the UK and Ireland.
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