During a recent L&NW company profile, a Pennsylvania-based label converter touted the benefits of outfitting the facility with the newest software from Label Traxx. The entire organization – from management to the employees – were able to get on the same page, using data to help promote efficiency.

In order to learn more about Label Traxx’s newest innovations, specifically with the popular Siteline, L&NW sat down with Rob Mayerson, president, Label Traxx.

L&NW: What was the process like that led you to develop a new sales portal/CRM – Siteline Sales Portal/CRM?
RM: First, we observed strong enthusiasm toward commercial CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot across many industries, however, much lower adoption and success in print and packaging. So, we asked ourselves and our customers why that is.

We heard that these products can be complex and expensive to implement with a high failure rate due to poor adoption by the sales force. Sales Representatives we talked to in the label converting space were interested in tracking activity and accelerating quotes requests, as long as it didn’t slow them down or overcomplicate the process.

Our approach was to build in solutions to save the sales representatives time and – most importantly – give them mobile optimized access to all the data about their customers and prospects from the print MIS/ERP – in this case Label Traxx.

L&NW: What specific problems were you trying to solve?
RM: As we explored further, it was clear that sales reps work separately from the remainder of the organization. They communicated via email and phone, remaining disjointed from even the most automated production facilities. One of our first goals was to integrate the sales team into the organization’s processes so they can contribute, rather than become a drain on productivity.

We heard examples of poorly functioning quoting processes. Many sales reps are simply passing along emailed specs to the estimator and waiting in-turn to be the conduit for a series of questions and answers forwarded through email. After significant effort, wait time and even frustration, a quote emerges from the ashes.

Very little of this activity truly added value. Virtually no information about this process surfaced to management, therefore, estimating was often seen as a black hole.

L&NW: How did you go about addressing these challenges?
RM: We needed to start with an effective tool for sales reps to request pricing, provide specifications and collaborate in a way that removed friction. In doing so, we recognized and delivered on four key requirements:

1. The tool needed to be connected to the MIS, Label Traxx in our case. All the data provided by the rep needed to flow seamlessly into and from an estimating record so the estimator on the receiving end of the request had a head start.
2. The solution needed to be a mobile friendly web application that can be used from any device with internet access. A sales rep, for example, needs access to data and workflows without logging into the MIS from the convenience of a mobile phone.
3. The workflow required an integrated collaboration tool so the sales rep and estimator could interact and come to agreement rapidly and effectively without switching over to email.
4. The workflow needed to optionally open to customers, as determined by the printing/converting organization, so customers could initiate the request for quote and collaborate with their sales representative.

L&NW: That sounds like quite an endeavor. Was there more to this venture?
RM: Yes. Once this foundation was established, we were able to surface meaningful data to the stakeholders who truly needed it. For example, sales reps are presented at login with a dashboard of relevant activity about their quotes, customers, orders, and invoices.

Multiple estimates can now be linked to a single opportunity which are now managed on a highly visible Estimating Status Board, so the entire organization understands the estimating backlog and the status of each request.

L&NW: How does this interact with the Siteline Customer Portal?
RM: The Sales Portal is licensed separately from the Customer Portal, so our customers can begin with either product or grow as their needs dictate. The two products sit on the same cloud platform, so customers who could already do several things online through the customer portal can now also request quotes from the same environment using the same credentials.

Our goal has always been to get the customer to engage online, then allow them to do more and more themselves when it’s convenient for them.

L&NW: Have you received any feedback?
RM: We’ve had very positive feedback through the beta period with new features being added rapidly. We’re hearing that sales reps and estimators are collaborating more effectively, quotes are getting out more quickly, win rates are better understood and appear to be climbing from converters using the tool.

Customers can learn more by attending our upcoming webinar, Introducing the CRM Built Specifically for Label Converters, on Wednesday, April 19, 2023.

They can also read our most recent blog post: Quoting Labels and Flexible Packaging is a Race.

Customers can find us at www.labeltraxx.com to learn more or request a demo.