Are you giving your product managers the sales information they need?
Published November 11, 2021
Sales managers need to see sales information by sales rep, whereas sales reps need to see sales information by customer. However, product managers need to see sales information by product.
Most systems provide sales reports by rep and by customer. But do they provide sales reports at the level of detail needed by product managers to proactively manage their product lines? Do your product managers have access to reports that provide a solid basis for making purchasing, manufacturing, and product mix decisions?
Sales reports
Take a look at these sales reports. The first report is very effective for a sales manager in managing his or her reps. The second report helps a sales rep proactively manage his or her customers. But consider whether these reports would provide any value to a product manager when considering which products to offer and when making inventory replenishment decisions.
1. Sales information for sales manager
This sales report is very useful for a sales manager, who is responsible for managing the sales reps. They can see sales broken down by rep, how each rep is doing year over year, and how they are doing relative to their annual target.
2. Sales information for sales rep
This sales report is very useful for a sales rep, who is responsible for managing a group of customers. The rep can see sales broken down by customer, whether each customer’s sales is trending up or down, and how the customer is doing relative to their annual target.
3. Sales information for product manager
Although those reports are useful to the sales team, you can see that those reports would not be very helpful to a product manager—especially when trying to evaluate which products are selling well, or when to ramp up production or purchases for specific items. For that, reports showing sales, trends, and seasonality by item are needed.
One useful report shows unit and dollar sales by item over the past three years. This is useful for seeing trends. For example, you might see that interest in Shower Curtains is down, while interest in Charcoal is significantly up. Based on this, should you drop Shower Curtains and invest in more Charcoal?
Another report shows an incredible amount of detail that product managers rely on: 36 months of history, both unit totals and dollar volume, on a rolling 12-month basis. Product managers can quickly see trends and seasonality, providing a solid basis for production scheduling, purchasing, and product mix decisions.
With information like that, your product managers can fine-tune your offerings and inventory levels to maximize sales. An effective sales portal will provide reports that are useful to your sales managers, your reps, and your product managers.
QuickBooks and your team
If you use QuickBooks to run your business, CrikSales offers a portal that integrates with your QuickBooks system. The simple, intuitive interface makes it easy for your staff, your reps, and your customers to enter orders or access information. CrikSales was designed from the ground up around the requirements of manufacturers and wholesale distribution companies.
Thousands of staff, sales reps, and B2B customers use the portal every day to enter orders, check inventory availability, track a shipment, print sales reports, and much more. CrikSales empowers your staff, sales reps, and B2B customers with QuickBooks-based data without giving them direct access to QuickBooks.
We offer a 30-day free trial so you can see how useful it is before making a commitment. Start your free trial and see how much more productive your reps, customers, and staff can be.
Questions or want a walkthrough? Schedule a demo or quick call. For more articles like this, visit the CrikSales blog.