Case study

B2C Premium Drinks Company

The premium sales app to consolidate knowledge and sell wider

B2C Premium Drinks Company (B2C) is a pioneering independent sales, marketing and distribution company, with a focus on premium international liquor brands. Launched in 2015, B2C is a fully independent company that works closely with world-leading premium brands across all the international liquor categories. The B2C case study discovers how the Skynamo field sales app is used to develop better brand strategies, reward reps for work which usually goes unnoticed, and to better apply information to deliver a more professional service to customers.

• – “Instant access to information”
• – “More professional service delivery”
• – “Daily customer visits nearly tripled”

B2C’s reps are tasked to visit their retail customers on a regular basis to stock up on favorites and sell them new brands. B2C’s incredible recent growth resulted in significant growth in rep portfolios and the need for a better brand management tool.

Before Skynamo

Inaccurate information from reps

B2C’s managers found it impossible to really understand what their reps were doing out in the field. It was a struggle to get quality feedback from reps when they were expected to manually submit a detailed call report by the end of each day. Reps who are out on client visits all day have little time for doing admin. By the time they do get around to admin, they are tired, have forgotten crucial details of what happened during visits, and are mainly focused on getting home. “Previously, it was a mission to jump from report to report in an attempt to get accurate information on our reps’ activities and whereabouts,” shares Derryn Maclear, Salesforce Development Manager at B2C.

Misinterpreting customer needs

Not having a clear understanding of sales rep activities effectually means not truly understanding customer needs. B2C looked to use Skynamo to categorize their current customer base into different market segments to better interpret and serve individual business needs. They were looking to trial different tactics in the market and draw insights from the data collected by reps in the field in order to develop better brand strategies. When working with a large portfolio and selling to a diverse range of customers, it becomes quite difficult knowing which brand to push where and at what time. “We need our reps to ask the right questions at the right outlets.”

Hard work went unnoticed

“The old system of logging rep activities and tracking KPIs meant that a lot of hard work done by reps wasn’t acknowledged, due to the nature of our industry.” A significant portion of B2C reps’ work consists of visits to indirect buying customers. These customers are typically tavern owners in townships or informal settlements who do not buy directly from B2C, but from wholesalers stocking their products. Reps visit tavern owners to promote brand items and encourage them to buy from nearby wholesalers. Orders are taken during these visits and wholesalers are stocked according to estimated figures based on past buying patterns. There is, however, no guarantee that those customers will end up buying from the wholesalers according to their placed orders. “This resulted in reps doing a lot of visits and indirect order taking, while it did not show up as actual orders taken on our systems. It’s demotivating doing all that work and not being properly recognized for it.”

Adopting Skynamo

Customised forms assure accurate information

B2C created custom forms in collaboration with Skynamo’s development team. These forms guide reps in determining which questions to ask for each specific customer segment, help identify gaps they could fill, and track how different questions impact sales in specific customer segments. “The customization capabilities are incredibly helpful to us. It is important for us to use different measures for individual reps. Different reps serve different customers in different ways,” explains Maclear. B2C develops customer segments and measurements according to the unique nature and needs of their customers. Specific forms are created for each customer group and these automatically reflect when a rep visits a customer in that group.

A brilliant brand management tool

Skynamo is used very effectively to set KPIs and measure brand performance. “It’s not about tracking our reps, but about tracking our brands and how they’re doing in the market.” Now that managers understand where reps are under performing and why, they can make better decisions about whether it’s worth selling a specific brand to a customer where the brand isn’t performing. “Our brands are pushed in the right direction and reps no longer find themselves barking up the wrong tree.”

Regular customer visits

Skynamo ensures that customers are visited by a rep on a regular basis, as it is used to track visits and outlet visits separately. “Visits include all visits to customers, including repeat visits, while outlet visits only keep track of which customers have been visited during a given report cycle,” Maclear clarifies. It avoids the problem of confusing a large number of repeat visits with many customers visited. Managers make sure all customers get seen by a rep.

Since Skynamo

Transparency strengthens manager rep relationships

Greater access to information creates transparency and understanding; it helps trust to develop between managers and reps. Skynamo helps managers to be more hands-on with the reps, giving them a clearer understanding of the issues reps faced out in the field. “Daily visits nearly tripled because of the transparency provided by Skynamo,” says Maclear. “We have been able to assist our reps in doing more daily visits as we are able to help them plan their routes better.”

Managers simultaneously enjoy an overview of business activities and access to details about the smallest on-the-ground activities. Available information is broken down in ways that allow managers to pinpoint problem areas. Issues are diagnosed accurately, which results in more effective solutions. B2C is now able to pay better attention to their customers’ needs as well as serve their customers in a more professional manner.

Rewarding reps

Skynamo helps B2C keep track of rep work done at taverns and other indirect buyers. They are now able to recognise the hard work reps do through visits and indirect orders in these areas. “Even though these orders do not always turn into actual sales, they are used as KPIs and our reps are rewarded accordingly, without it affecting our normal stock order system and unnecessarily complicating our administrative processes.”

Reps are empowered to deliver a more professional service

With Skynamo, B2C reps have access to more accurate and regularly updated customer and product information, enabling them to deliver services according to customer needs. They also relate with customers on a more personal level. “It all starts with something small, like greeting a customer by name. It’s a matter of respect which is so crucial to relationships – and business is all about relationships,” says Maclear.

Thinking forward strategically

Skynamo developers are currently working on a form to help B2C have better access to stock numbers by brand per outlet. This will enable the sales team to think strategically about how they can target customers who do not currently stock their products. “We need the form to ask reps the right questions at the right outlet.” When working with a large portfolio and selling to a diverse range of customers, it becomes quite difficult knowing which brand to push where and at what time. These custom forms will remind reps which brands need to be checked or pushed at each outlet.

“Growth is great but short-lived if it cannot be utilised. Skynamo helps us to understand and manage our recent successes and think strategically about the future of our brand and products.”