September 17/24, 2018: Volume 34, Issue 7
By Lindsay Baillie
Lead generation and management tools are becoming more important as consumers continue to start their purchasing journeys online. Whether a consumer finds a dealer via digital marketing, a TV commercial or a newspaper ad, these customer relationship management (CRM) systems help flooring retailers find and organize relevant leads as well as stay on top of their consumer’s projects from expected product delivery dates to when a job is to be completed.
As these technologies continue to advance, flooring dealers have the opportunity to optimize their business software and streamline processes to make capturing and following leads a breeze.
Following are several technology companies that offer CRM systems for generating and managing leads.
FloorForce
According to FloorForce, lead generation includes the process of attracting and transforming consumers into shoppers who show interest in the products or services a company sells. Today, FloorForce is leveraging Google, Facebook and Instagram, as these platforms are where a majority of consumers can be reached.
Once the company has the consumer’s attention, FloorForce focuses on delivering unique experiences and content to introduce, add value and warm up the target audience. This ultimately makes it feel more like a natural conversation than a sales pitch.
“This month, we are adding the Roomvo room visualizer to our lead generation experience, which we feel will transform the casual website shopping visit into a fully immersive augmented reality experience,” said John Weller, co-founder. “It will connect the consumer to the retailer and the products on the retailer’s website in a way most people have never dreamed of.”
Pacific Solutions
Pacific Solutions’ Opportunities module is a lead management system that works by giving users the ability to speculate the dollar size of the opportunity, the anticipated contract award date, the stage that the opportunity is in, etc. What’s more, the module tracks the specific market sector that generated the lead.
Users can also document all correspondence with customers, which is then compiled into a pipeline report that is sortable and exportable. Dormant leads can be uploaded to email marketing services, so the business can cast a broad net that will potentially reactivate an old lead.
“Our Opportunity module is fully integrated into both FloorManager and JobRunner,” said Bob Noe Jr., president. “When an ‘opportunity’ converts to a proposal and eventually a sale, the opportunity will mark itself as ‘won’ and will adjust the opportunity dollar amount to match the eventual amount of the actual sale. The user can then run a pipeline report on all ‘opportunities’ that are won and drill down on how many wins come from the sector, source or salesperson.”
QFloors
QFloors offers lead tracking and CRM capabilities as part of its base QFloors software system. Through its system, QFloors is able to manage the tracking and prioritization of leads, sales pipeline, sales projections marketing advertising ROI and more.
“It provides business owners invaluable information, such as which products and brands customers are purchasing, number of won vs. lost leads and closing rates by sales rep/product type/location/etc.,” explained Chad Ogden, president. “It answers important questions such as: How many people came in looking for hard surface vs. soft surface? Flooring vs. countertops? What were the close rates on each of those? Did our radio campaign increase the number of people who walked in our door?”
QFloors’ lead tracking and CRM capabilities also feature an “ups” system for sales reps to get assigned leads. It provides product sample tracking and checkout as well as data on how leads are generated.
Retail Lead Management
Retail Lead Management (RLM) was developed specifically to help flooring dealers manage all their retail flooring leads. What’s more, the software is customizable so dealers can have the company customize the fields wanted, the stages of the sales cycle and numerous other things within the system.
“We have the ability to work with third-party website and software providers to integrate our system with theirs,” Jason Goldberg, CEO of RLM and America’s Floor Source, explained. “We integrate with Comp-U-Floor, QFloors and RollMaster, so after a lead is created in our software, users can click a button and move the customer information directly into those operating systems.”
RLM also integrates with FloorForce or Creating Your Space websites as well as Podium and Reputation.com. “With our REST API we can basically integrate with any other software,” Goldberg noted.
RFMS
RFMS’ Client Management Module is a multi-functional program that helps dealers market, sell, communicate and manage projects of all sizes. Users are able to monitor sales progress and business performance, manage and track every aspect of multiple-phase projects as well as calendar, task tracking and email from within the program.
“Our CMM system is not a standalone product, but instead integrates with the flooring dealer’s RFMS program,” said Maria Cauchon, media services director.
CMM comprises two distinct areas to enable dealers to transform their business. Retail Sales Manager allows a user to track contacts, prospects or customers as they relate to the store’s sales and advertising. Commercial Project Manager lets dealers manage and track everything about their multiple-phase projects and jobs.
RollMaster
The RollMaster Lead Processing System is fully integrated with the company’s main flooring business software; once the lead is entered, it flows through to the quote, order, purchasing stages. What’s more, the program assists with tracking incoming phone-in leads, which are directed to a manager who can assign them to different RSAs.
“The sales rep can access the leads from their RMMobileSales app, wherever they are, and it then allows them to attach contracts and any paperwork from the field, allowing the office to immediately begin order processing,” said Kelly Oechslin, marketing coordinator. “The process is quick and efficient.”
The RollMaster Lead Processing System, though used by many different dealers, is designed specifically for the shop-at-home retailer. In addition to this system, RollMaster also offers a REST API, which allows dealers to pick any applicable independent lead generation app or CRM and create an integration.
Stock Systems
Stock Systems’ complete program—which includes Stock Inventory, Stock Logistics and Stock Sales—is an integrated customer experience platform. According to Chase Shiels, CEO, the platform provides customers with transparency throughout the entire sales process, which helps to build customer relationships and referrals.
Stock Sales holds contact information, allowing the user to do follow-ups and schedule appointments. Stock Inventory is where the user manages sales and purchase orders as it relates to sales orders, invoicing and tracking through the order prep process. Lastly, Stock Logistics provides notifications to the customer as to when a product is scheduled to be delivered, which truck is making the delivery and who is driving the truck.
“Every part of our platform feeds information to the customer and creates the entire experience,” Shiels explained. “We’re trying to provide transparency through the entire process. That’s the biggest area for forward progress for manufacturers, distributors and retailers.”
