PriceTracker is a software tool and data aggregation service that makes it easier for IT distributors and solution providers to import,analyze and take action on vendor special pricing and promotions.
Using this system, distributor and reseller sales teams quote more, quote faster and price more effectively. PriceTracker helps distributors to win more business, grow margins, improve sales productivity and lower costs in their operations, product management and finance departments.
The Challenge
Vendors provide special pricing in many different non-standard formats such as emails, PDFs, excel files etc.
As a result, pricing data does not get loaded quickly or completely into distributors’ and resellers internal sales and finance systems.
This causes challenges in many departments, impacting win rates, margins and operating costs:
Delayed Quotes – sales reps wait to quote clients while pricing data is manually adjusted and key entered
Less quotes – reps quote only selected lines from bid letters, or not at all when effort outweighs benefit; reps may even be unaware special pricing is available for client
Lower sales productivity – sales reps waste time searching for and requesting pricing; reps perform manual data entry to speed quotes
Customer frustration – resellers often face long waits for distributors to locate and confirm special pricing
Inability to analyze – scattered and uncaptured data prevents management from win rates & quote rates and from identifying market pricing opportunities
Processing costs – time spent performing repeated manual data entry and processing subsequent debit and rebate claims
Financial losses – errors in manual data entry and and sales quoting; delayed or rejected debit claims
Limited electronic commerce – lost revenue from not being able to offer special pricing and promotions through electronic commerce sites
High IT costs – high cost building and maintaining tools; custom connections to many parties
Inability to scale – difficulty responding to increased volumes of bid letters and debit claims
The Solution
PriceTracker automaticaly processes price files from >150 manufacturers
Distributors and resellers can import, process and analyze bid letters and promotional pricing documents from over 150 vendors and import pricing data into their internal systems through a single connection to PriceTracker.
Key capabilities include:
Automation & Speed – bid letters and other promotion price files can be processed, imported and ready for quoting in distributor systems in 2-5 minutes
Validation & accuracy – all price file data elements are verified; 95% of bids processed automatically without need for human intervention
Analysis & notifications – SKU, client and price analysis; proactive and intelligent notifications on all bid data elements and metrics
Adaptability – the system updates quickly in response to changes in vendor templates; adding new vendors and programs is easy
Flexible output – easy ways to connect and import price data into a distributor’s internal systems
Proactive notifications – team members receive personalized and intelligent reports alerting them to bid updates, expiring bids, top new programs etc.
Bid Explorer – a powerful tool to search & view bid data
Exception handling – identify bids requiring manual intervention; streamlined workflow for bid review, validation and correction
SKU & client matching – match vendor part numbers and reseller descriptions to a distributor’s internal reference numbers
Debit management – ease of preparing and submitting claims
The Benefits
Distributors and resellers can quickly and easily process special pricing documents from all of their hardware and software vendors.
Ensuring clean and reliable data at the start of the process provides a stable platform for faster quoting, easier debit and rebate management, and improved sales analysis.
Specific benefits include:
Increased revenue – sales reps quote more and take advantage of more vendor programs; quoting higher percentage of bids and faster turnaround means higher win rates; sales reps spend more time selling versus manual data entry.
Higher margins – real-time notifications and ability to analyze market pricing lets sales make better pricing decisions that lead to more basis points
Higher EBIDTA – lower manual processing costs; reduced losses from pricing errors and delayed or rejected debit and rebate claims
Customer satisfaction – faster service and the ability to provide a common quoting process for all hardware and software vendors improves customer experience
Easier debit claiming – readily accessible price histories and audit trails greatly simplifies the task of debit and rebate management
Business intelligence – further increases in revenue and profit from the ability to better analyze pricing programs and win rates
Reduced IT support costs – no more costly custom connections to manage; flexible data import options
Vendor satisfaction – increased ability to support vendor pricing programs and special promotions