How FIGJAM Can Help You and Your Business
Pauline is a merchandiser. Part of her job is making sure that stocks don’t run out at the outlets she is assigned to. At the same time, she has to make sure that all the brands under her supervision fill the shelves that are allocated to them, and also that the arrangement of the products on the shelves is presentable and attractive.
She needs to keep careful track of stocks in order to advise sales reps on required re-order volumes, as well as keep a good record of product movement, returns, breakages, and spoils. To add to her critical workload, Tich*, her superior mentioned in the previous article (which you can read here) wants to know how competing products are being priced and how they’re moving. How will she manage all of this without dropping the ball along the way?
Time management
Pauline’s workflow has been simplified immensely by the FIGJAM app. For example, when she gets to an outlet at which she has been assigned to work, she selects the outlet name from her pre-defined list and is automatically logged in. Her supervisor will get notified of her arrival at this location. This eliminates the need for tedious, time-consuming, manual time-sheet filling, which can be prone to inaccuracies and doctoring.
Ordering and Invoicing
She checks her stocks, and if they are running out, she simply creates a new order, selects the products she’s assigned to work on, inputs the required quantities and sends the order. Tich gets the order instantly. FIGJAM allows Tich to also have the order sent directly to the invoicing department. Processing times have just been reduce 10X.
Reporting
As she sets out to re-stock product shelves, she realizes that some units are either broken or spoiled. Within FIGJAM, she can access her mobile device camera, take photos of these units and send them to Tich right away. If she knows how the units broke, or needs to inform Tich about something, she can easily add a short note to each image.
Additionally, Tich can specify how and when the FIGJAM system sends him reports on all activity and tasks for all merchandisers and sales reps, like Pauline. He can also customize the reports to include any other data that he may need, in the format best suited to him. He can share these reports with colleagues and superiors, or use them to prepare for his monthly board meetings.
Critical market data
Should Pauline notice that the competing brand has dropped their prices or that a new competing brand has entered the market, she can also quickly fill out a price survey form and send to Tich in real-time.
Once she’s done with her tasks in that outlet, she can logout and leave the store. Tich can see that she has left the outlet.
Are you in Tich’s position?
The above narration depicts how easy it is to get field data from sales representatives and merchandisers. However, it also understates the amount of critical market data that decision-makers and sales-team leaders can access.
Decisions backed by real, raw, yet intuitively displayed data can lead to business growth. Additionally, this data can help team leaders manage their personnel in the most effective ways, and strategize on how to maximize the available workforce.
Productivity
FIGJAM makes use of GPS to track the location of a user. This means that even when the user’s device is offline, her supervisor can see her whereabouts in real-time. To make it even better, the FIGJAM app automatically starts and runs as soon as the device is turned on.
Many team leaders have found this feature effective in weeding out unproductive employees and come up with work-related policies of ensuring maximum productivity.
What clients have to say about FIGJAM
“FIGJAM has changed the way we carry out business operations. Our order turnaround is now faster. We also receive a scheduled consolidated report from FIGJAM that enables us to monitor our staffs’ activities per location .” – NOMA NDLOVU, MARKETING MANAGER | LE SEL BRANDS
“(FIGJAM) have bent over backwards to develop customized solutions to help meet our changing business needs and aid us in effectively operating in the Zimbabwean environment, as well as in Malawi and Zambia. It is always a pleasure working with them…” – CHRIS HULLEY, HEAD OF IT | DGA (part of Innscor Africa Limited’s main distribution channel)
You can read more about these companies and their experiences in Part 4 of 4 – How FIGJAM has helped over 82 different Brands.
Taking a step back from the corporate view of things, how can FIGJAM help you and your team as individuals? How can tools such as FIGJAM assist in dealing with stress and creating room for other important things in life?
In the next article, Part 3 of 4 – Work smarter. Be Great. 2 important ways FIGJAM can impact your personal life, we will demonstrate how FIGJAM can help you work smarter and manage your personal life in the following areas:
- Time and Task prioritizing
- Stress
- Setting and achieving goals
- Advancing your career
If you’d like more information sooner, please feel free to contact us here: sales@figjammobile.com
Or visit our website: www.figjammobile.com
*Tich Garuwadya works at Vaitive Distribution in Zimbabwe. This is what he had to say about his experience with FIGJAM:
“FIGJAM has helped us save so much time where orders and deliveries are concerned. We receive orders in real-time as opposed to the following day. Deliveries that used to take 36 hours now get done in under 6 hours. The integration feature is a plus cutting our processing time from 1 hour to 5 minutes.” Read his story here.
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