Distributors are busy people, that’s just a fact of the industry. And with more and more competition, delays, and other challenges, it’s only getting busier.

This is why it’s fortunate that software for distributors is beginning to emerge and evolve, allowing the simplest yet most time-consuming and tedious tasks of a distribution team’s day to be automated.

Workflow automations can:

• Streamline tasks
• Save time
• Reduce costs
• Eliminate human error

When a sales team is given back hours of their day, not only is employee satisfaction and retention improved, but it means more time for actual sales and generating revenue. With each sales rep taking care of as many customers as they can, saving time to interact with each of them is key.

Workflow automations have the capacity to be customized to a wide range of distribution sales processes, here’s a look into the most useful workflows for distribution.

What workflow automations can do for you

Workflow automations are set to take over manual tasks for you, using software that executes all or part of a process. It can be as simple to use as a button you click that generates a report or sends an approval to a team member, or it can complete tasks with more steps and complexity. AI is often used in workflows, though not always.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is where you will commonly find sales workflow automations. Examples of tasks that can be automated:

• Customer communication (emails, notifications etc.)
• Notifications based on set criteria
• Pricing or document approval flows
• Promotions and marketing campaigns

With tons of information to keep track of, distributors end up spending a lot of time recording and sifting through data, which is why time-consuming and repetitive tasks, such as manual data entry, are more frequently a desired type of automation for distributors as of late.

Distributors are also finding it important to utilize workflows because it is becoming difficult to compete if you’re still using outdated, manual processes; particularly because it is difficult for those processes to scale with you as you grow.

Pre-built workflows

Software with workflows may come with prebuilt options, so you can get started quickly with generic workflows that work for most businesses. Better yet if the software is distribution-specific, because you are much more likely to find workflows that don’t need customization to be effective for you.

Custom workflows

The ability to create your own workflows or customize existing ones can be important for distributors in particular, because they have complex and unique processes (especially in comparison to B2C). Custom workflows can be more efficient and offer the opportunity to automate more types of processes based on the specific needs of your business.

Report builder workflows

There are workflows that allow you to build and run custom reports, so you don’t have to waste time collecting data for reports. This may come in the form of one-click report generation, and could be used for various purposes such as sales and inventory.

Automated customer onboarding

When customer onboarding is automated, it means the conversion process is quicker and a reliably consistent experience on the customer end. Faster onboarding of course also means they can start buying sooner.

All-in-One System

SupplyMover is an all-in-one system, bringing distributors cutting edge CRM solutions, e-commerce, and sales enablement tools.

For info on SupplyMover’s workflows and other handy automations and tools, watch this video:

If you’d like to learn more about SupplyMover, feel free to schedule a demo below!