Sales teams within many of today’s lean fab shops, job shops, metal service centers,
are often asked to wear many hats ranging from prospecting to creating, sending, and
following up on quotes. Unfortunately, this creates a “fish or cut bait” dilemma for many
organizations.
A Move to SecturaSOFT
Russel Metals is one of the largest metals distribution and processing companies in
North America. The Company primarily distributes steel products and conducts
business in three principal business segments: metals service centers; energy products
and steel distributors.
A couple of short years ago, after making the decision to upgrade its quoting system,
the company brought in SecturaSOFT. Almost immediately, that decision began paying
huge dividends.
“Bringing SecturaSOFT in to replace our outdated quoting tools has led to a complete
process overhaul in our sales department – for the better,” explained Sales Manager,
Dustin James. “Our quote throughput has increased by fifty percent. Putting more time
back into the hands of our sales team allows us to better serve our customers.”
James explains the benefits of SecturaSOFT software extend far beyond quoting. “What
SecturaSOFT really does is put time back into the hands of your salespeople. This frees
your staff to focus on upstream sales activities like prospecting, follow up, and business
development. We couldn’t imagine life without it at this point.”
Integration
According to James, another benefit of the program is its seamless digital integration. A
modern API allows the software to communicate with ERP and other production,
process, and business applications.
“As a sales manager, the last thing I want is to discover that our estimating software
operates in a silo,” said James. “At Russel Metals we routinely pull data from
SecturaSOFT quoting software for use in other places. Something like creating a parts
library to build a repository of data for future use and references should be basic
functionality and easily accomplished.”
Usability
Additionally, James cites usability as a key indicator. “The software has to follow good
practices and be easy to learn and use,” he said. “This accelerates the onboarding
process and makes it possible to pull in others as needed to create quotes. People
come and go, and as a fabricator you don’t want to be at the mercy of a select few with
a complex skillset.”
Eliminating the Catch 22 of Quoting
When you’re creating estimates, you’re not filling the top of the sales funnel or
developing new business. Similarly, the funnel will dry up without a steady flow of leads.
Until now, this catch 22 has created a frustrating dilemma for many fabrication sales
departments.
Created especially for fabricators (and now machine shops!), SecturaSOFT’s
automated quoting system alleviates the fish or cut bait quandary by accelerating the
estimating process.
For Russel Metals a switch to the industry’s leading estimating solutions is providing
their sales team with a tool to minimize quoting time and maximize upstream sales
activities.
Contact SecturaSOFT to see how we can help your sales department to catch more fish
and keep a steady surplus of bait on hand!
