An essential factor to having an effective merchandising program is ensuring that merchandising services take place at an appropriate time and for a suitable duration. GreenMile is a leading cloud-based platform and mobile solutions company that was started in an effort to help distributors better control their last-mile delivery costs while improving customer satisfaction levels. In doing so, it quickly became evident that there were many hands involved in the customer satisfaction and success process, and managing only the delivery trucks didn’t address the entire problem in last-mile distribution. Complete customer satisfaction is a result of the distributor’s entire team being able to operate together effectively, and a solution was needed that could orchestrate and align the sales team, delivery team, and merchandising team in concert. That’s what lead to GreenMile’s turn-key Customer Satisfaction Solution, managing everything from sales call frequency and time onsite with customers, to efficient delivery windows and service times, to streamlining the merchandising process ensuring efficient in-store execution of the product to the shelf. GreenMile is the technology backbone that provides real-time information and visibility between all of a distributor’s various departments to ensure effectiveness in the field, resulting in the customer being serviced correctly.
It starts with Effective Leadership
With more than twenty years of experience in supply chain and logistics software, James Frasier, Vice President of Customer Success and a Co-Founder of GreenMile, has been helping to lead GreenMile down that path of success. GreenMile offers a set of solutions and services that provide companies around the globe with optimal logistics planning and real-time visibility into last-mile transportation, helping them become more efficient while improving profitability. Over the past two decades, James has successfully applied his business development skills to help GreenMile become a leader in the logistics software market. James points out that, “for distributors, merchandising is often directly tied to customer satisfaction and increased retail sales, and GreenMile is the key to managing all aspects of the merchandiser’s day.”
The merchandiser is often the last person who touches the product to put it into the best light before it goes home with the consumer. The GreenMile Merchandiser mobile application runs on any Android or iOS device and facilitates all aspects of a Merchandiser’s day including “clock in – clock out”, assigned or taken breaks, and lunch are all captured and reported on. This timecard information can also be seamlessly passed over to any time & attendance solution being used by the distributor. GreenMile has always exceled at retail data collection in order to satisfy the growing appetite of wholesalers looking for market intelligence data. GreenMile’s Smart Survey functionality makes using the app as easy and effective for front line employees as it is for the management team to get the real-time data being passed straight back from the field. Quantity data by SKU and store location is easily retrieved through GreenMile’s reporting & dashboard tools. All of this detailed data is augmented by photos that are time and GPS stamped and automatically filed into the customer’s account profile in GreenMile’s cloud portal. The customer’s photo albums are particularly useful in seeing how the products were merchandised, helping to ensure a positive consumer shopping experience. The app even allows the Merchandiser capture a signature for proof of service after the visit is completed.
Wholesalers know that the key to having a strong merchandising program is making sure that merchandising activities take place on the correct day and time, and for the required duration that was planned for that service visit. GreenMile does just that – automatically! Our Merchandiser application helps distributors verify that services have been completed on the dates and times prescribed in their service plan. Both daily and weekly plans can be managed using GreenMile; even wholesalers without set merchandising routes can leverage GreenMile’s technology by automatically capturing the customers visited in the Merchandiser’s territory along with the time spent on site at each account.
Oftentimes Merchandisers utilize their own vehicles in the field, causing the distributor headaches with having to manage time & mileage tracking and reimbursement for these employees. Questions like, “Were all these miles for company purposes?” Did she start her day at home or her first stop?”, and “Was the first stop a customer account, or just a stop at the local convenience store for a beverage?” are all answered quickly and easily using GreenMile’s technology. Accurate mileage data can be seamlessly transferred to most mileage reimbursement solutions, and distributors that are able to capture mileage information from GPS typically experience 15 – 20% savings over manual data capture methods.
In today’s competitive landscape, being able to measure and manage the “cost to serve” is of utmost importance to the wholesaler. And that starts with identifying all of the moving parts involved in supporting the customer, including Sales, Delivery, and Merchandising. GreenMile provides mobile applications to provide visibility to these mobile workers as well as help track and improve their productivity while in the field. The end result: increased sales and happier customers.
“We are evangelists for helping our customer base reduce their transportation costs while helping them to provide outstanding levels of customer service in an ever-changing and challenging business climate.” – James Frasier
The GreenMile Platform: Technology Enabling Distributors to Succeed
GreenMile Live– Effective route planning is half of the equation. Executing that plan effectively is the other half. GreenMile Live is a cloud-based solution that combines route plan information with real-time actual vs. planned data from mobile and telematics devices to help your company increase visibility, improve performance and reduce the costs of your mobile resources, whether they are drivers, merchandisers, sales reps, or technicians.
GreenMile Driver – Stay up-to-date on route status, delivery status (pending, delivered, canceled, postponed) and order updates as they occur with GreenMile Driver. Transportation companies’ field resources can receive real-time updates from dispatch while management gains instant access to performance statistics and on-time percentages.
GreenMile Merchandiser –Instantly notify your merchandisers after a delivery is completed so they can service your customers more effectively. GreenMile Merchandiser efficiently manages a merchandiser’s daily workload while allowing your company to easily track mileage and service times to better manage field performance and improve customer service levels.
GreenMile Sales – Provide your Sales team with real-time access into the delivery status of each and every one of their customers right on their Android or iOS device. Additionally, the GreenMile Sales mobile app can also track a salesperson’s miles and activity level within their sales territory, providing management insight into top-line revenue efforts in the field.
GreenMile Manager – Service & delivery exception notifications can be sent in real-time to any Android or iOS device, allowing managers to see how the delivery day is unfolding. GreenMile Manager provides quick and easy access into the delivery day – helping your management team measure performance metrics to better manage delivery success.
Source :- The 10 Most Innovative Merchandising Solution Providers 2017