Post Link: Tales From a Road Warrior: Independent Rep Larry Winderbaum

Tales From a Road Warrior: Independent Rep Larry Winderbaum

Our latest “Road Warriors” feature is here! Today, Larry Winderbaum, an experienced salesrep, head honcho at New York Reps, and veteran road warrior, shares his thoughts on how hegot into sales, the first time he saw a fax machine, and how order management technology haschanged the way he does business.

HS: How did you get into sales?

LW: My friend got me into the business. She told me that she needed someone to help in theoffice and type invoices. From there, I ended up running the office and then running thewarehouse.

At that point, I realized that salespeople were the ones making the most money! To make along story short, I ended up doing very well in sales, becoming a regional sales manager, aninternational sales manager, and eventually the head of my own firm.

HS: What do you sell and who do you sell to?

LW: We’re an independent sales firm representing several manufacturers, so we sell a widerange of products that include books, gifts, stationery, products for the home, and products fortourists. We sell to book stores, souvenir shops, and other retailers, including Barnes & Noble,MoMA, the Statue of Liberty, and Century 21.

HS: What territory/region do you cover?

LW: I cover New Jersey and New York, including the Boroughs, Long Island, and upstate NewYork.

HS: How did you start thinking about technology? What made you start using ordermanagement software?

LW: Well, in the past, I had a lot of people working for me writing orders by hand. I was alsomanually writing a lot of orders, and I actually paid someone whose entire job was order entry.We used to mail orders by post, and I remember the first time I saw a fax machine. I said, wow,this is amazing.

Basically, we’d write orders in the field, and give them to the order entry guy in the office. He’dtype up the order, print it out, and then fax it out to the manufacturer. I was paying thisemployee to do all that busy work, and every time an order was re-written, there was alwaysthe chance that mistakes would be made. There had to be a better way to process thoseorders.

I eventually evaluated a few solutions, but Handshake just seemed like the right program; it dideverything that we wanted it to do. It was a good program at a good price, and the offices werehere in NYC, so I was actually able to visit their office and talk about the product.

HS: How do you use sales order management software at your field sales appointments?

LW: With a lot of my customers, I’m in charge of the ordering. [Laughs] I almost think of myselfas a benevolent dictator. Life is about someone trying to get you to do what they want, and youtrying to get them to do what you want. Handshake makes it easier to get my customers to dowhat I want them to do, and do it faster.

I want to have real estate in a store--I want to have that space, build trust with retailers, andthen allow them to forget about it. They’ll trust me to keep that rack filled and order the rightproducts for their shelves.

So actually, 90% of the time when I’m using the app, I’m not actually in a store. I’ll do a quickstore visit, make sure the product displays look good, and then later write up a suggested orderto send to the buyer.

But one of my other reps always uses order management software while in the stores, right infront of buyers. She focuses on souvenir shops, writing her orders and emailing them out rightfrom the store. The retailers love working with her.

HS: How has order management technology impacted your business?

LW: It has really changed my life and my business. The customers are getting their ordersfaster and we’ve eliminated over 95% of order entry errors. In terms of lag time, we’ve sped upthe process by 20 times.

In retail, it’s all about turning the merchandise. If a sales manager writes an order on aThursday and gets home late, he may decide to process the order on Friday. But then the

weekend rolls around, and that always causes delays. That order will maybe ship out Monday.With order management technology, the order goes out on Thursday. It’s instantaneous.

My company also uses the printed orders--which include images--as packing slips. Ourcustomers love that we have visuals rather than just the text description of the products.

HS: People can buy from others, but why do they buy from YOU?

LW: I’ve been in the business for years, and my customers know me and trust me. In a way, I’mtaking control of the customer’s business--in a good way. They can trust you to send suggestedfilling orders and keep their store stocked. When they buy from me, they know that the order willbe correct and shipped on time.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Larry! Stay on the lookout for more Road Warriorsfeatures to hear more about other reps' experiences out on the road.

Post originally locatedat: www.handshake.com/blog/tales-road-warrior-independent-rep-larry-winderbaum

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