Challenge & Selection    This is regarding a traditional company where sales teams are using mail from inquiry to order  process. Everyone in the value chain is busy but the response time to the customer is very high  and erroneous. The current process is

The challenge is to reduce the transaction time and errors in the whole value chain. Also,  generate valuable data for further analysis and decision making. There are various options to  tackle this challenge.    1. Develop in-house software tool  2. Use already available software tools in the market  3. Implement a renowned CRM software    The Company developed an in-house tool ten years back but did not succeed. The sales team  members were not comfortable using the tool because of insufficient functionality and no value- added. In the other 2 options company needs to invest money and due to bad experience of  earlier investment, it is very difficult to ask for further investment. Also, it is very difficult to  justify the return on investment on the tools because the tool will not give tangible benefits.  We took the Learning launches design tool to solve this challenge.    Application & Insight    We started the experiment with option 1.    Option 1 – Develop an in-house tool. We took the current tool and discuss with all the  stakeholders the challenges with the tool.    We received the following feedback    Sales: We are busy and we do not have time to enter the details in the tool. Also, there is no  benefit to entering the details because the final quotation comes through mail only. There is no  way to address the revision of the offer.    Design: the Tool is just sending us the information about the inquiry however we do not have  any mechanision to store technical data in the tool. We need to send the technical data on the  mail itself.    Sale head: Tool does not have the pricing control mechanism hence not useful for me  Business head: we do not have any inquiry, Win, and Loss data in the tool to get the reports and  do some analysis.

Inquiry from  customer to sales  engineer

Inquiry from sales  to Design engineer

Design offer to  Sales engineer

Price confirmation  from Sales head

Price or technical  revision

Approach    We took the Learning launches approach by small improvement in the tool and understanding  the challenges. The whole cycle starts with the inquiry so it is very important to smoothen the  inquiry entry process. We discussed with the sales team and updated the inquiry page to capture  only the required information. Also, added the functionality to add an attachment in the tool  itself.    It gives motivation to the sales team to add the inquiry in the tool.  We improved the layout of the inquiry page and added commercial details so that the sales team  can capture all the relevant information at one location.  Second step: After that, we discussed with the design team and capture all the relevant technical  information required to be in the tool. We updated the design page to capture the design data in  the tool.    Still, it does give any value because for the design team it is double work. They have to enter the  technical data in the software which is not useful.    The Design team would like to generate the quotation using the technical data so that they need  not send a separate quotation to the sales team.  We implemented the pdf functionality to the tool and now the design can send a technical  quotation to the sales team.    Third step: Sales head: There was no pricing control with the sales head. We changed the  workflow where all the inquires will come to the sales head for pricing.    Now there were 2 flows –  technical data from design to sales team  commercial data from the sales head to the sales team    Conclusion    With the learning launches approach, we used our old tool and serve the customer. Now all the  sales team members are using the tool and are happy to serve the customer


Challenge & Selection This is regarding a traditional company where sales teams are using mail from inquiry to order process . Everyone in the value chain is busy but the response time to the customer is very high and erroneous . The current process is The challenge is to reduce the transaction time and errors in the whole value chain . Also , generate valuable data for further analysis and decision making . There are various options to tackle this challenge . 1 . Develop in - house software tool 2 . Use already available software tools in the market 3 . Implement a renowned CRM software The Company developed an in - house tool ten years back but did not succeed . The sales team members were not comfortable using the tool because of insufficient functionality and no value- added . In the other 2 options company needs to invest money and due to bad experience of earlier investment , it is very difficult to ask for further investment . Also , it is very difficult to justify the return on investment on the tools because the tool will not give tangible benefits . We took the Learning launches design tool to solve this challenge . Application & Insight We started the experiment with option 1 . Option 1 – Develop an in - house tool . We took the current tool and discuss with all the stakeholders the challenges with the tool . We received the following feedback Sales : We are busy and we do not have time to enter the details in the tool . Also , there is no benefit to entering the details because the final quotation comes through mail only . There is no way to address the revision of the offer . Design : the Tool is just sending us the information about the inquiry however we do not have any mechanision to store technical data in the tool . We need to send the technical data on the mail itself . Sale head : Tool does not have the pricing control mechanism hence not useful for me Business head : we do not have any inquiry , Win , and Loss data in the tool to get the reports and do some analysis . Inquiry from customer to sales engineer Inquiry from sales to Design engineer Design offer to Sales engineer Price confirmation from Sales head Price or technical revision Approach We took the Learning launches approach by small improvement in the tool and understanding the challenges . The whole cycle starts with the inquiry so it is very important to smoothen the inquiry entry process . We discussed with the sales team and updated the inquiry page to capture only the required information . Also , added the functionality to add an attachment in the tool itself . It gives motivation to the sales team to add the inquiry in the tool . We improved the layout of the inquiry page and added commercial details so that the sales team can capture all the relevant information at one location . Second step : After that , we discussed with the design team and capture all the relevant technical information required to be in the tool . We updated the design page to capture the design data in the tool . Still , it does give any value because for the design team it is double work . They have to enter the technical data in the software which is not useful . The Design team would like to generate the quotation using the technical data so that they need not send a separate quotation to the sales team . We implemented the pdf functionality to the tool and now the design can send a technical quotation to the sales team . Third step : Sales head : There was no pricing control with the sales head . We changed the workflow where all the inquires will come to the sales head for pricing . Now there were 2 flows – technical data from design to sales team commercial data from the sales head to the sales team Conclusion With the learning launches approach , we used our old tool and serve the customer . Now all the sales team members are using the tool and are happy to serve the customer