“The only question worth asking is: what am I risking? Nothing. The scope I am starting from is narrow.”
Jean-François Le RudulierGroup CIO · Groupe HedisAbout 20 hours to answer a price request, at an equipment distributor we analysed.
We analysed the sales mailboxes of two distributors, one of industrial equipment, the other of IT and telecoms equipment. Here is what we found, and the agents that handle it.
about 20 h
What we found in the sector
about 20 h
median time to answer a price requestSample 1 mailbox · 9 months
32%
price requests unanswered at 48 hoursSample the same mailbox · its last 6 months analysed
70%
quotes with no visible follow-up after five days, at an IT and telecoms distributorSample 1 mailbox · 10 months
62 to 84%
quotes with no visible follow-up after five days, across our six distributorsSample the mailboxes of 6 distributors
Method & sources
- about 20 h
- From the request arriving to the reply going out, at an industrial equipment distributor. Measured over nine months on the mailbox of a mid-market French industrial equipment distributor analysed in our diagnostics.
- 32%
- On the same mailbox, over the last six months analysed.
- 70%
- Share of quotes sent with no visible follow-up five days after they went out. Measured over ten months on the mailbox of a French IT and telecoms equipment distributor analysed in our diagnostics.
- 62 to 84%
- For the industrial equipment distributor, the rate kept is the one the customer validated, 80%, not the reading of its mailbox. Measured on the mailboxes of the six B2B distributors analysed in our diagnostics, across every sector.
Manufacturer or distributor
Based on your profile.
Do you manufacture equipment?
Keying in an order takes knowing the product.
Technical references, options, configurations: at an equipment manufacturer, the order desk has to know the catalogue to enter an order, and that knowledge is not hired in a few weeks. The Order capture agent reads the order, matches it against your catalogue and prepares the entry in the ERP. The order desk validates it.
See the Order capture agent
CapturePurchase orderCDE-77412
From: achats@moreau-gc.fr · CDE-77412.pdf
What the agent read
CustomerMoreau Génie Climatique
ReferenceCDE-77412
Lines6
VariantNot stated
One variant not in the document, left to the order desk.
ERPDraft
Moreau Génie Climatique
CDE-77412
6
To choose
Villeurbanne
Draft waiting for the order desk.
Do you distribute equipment?
Order peaks, handled with the same headcount.
At CF Group, a pool equipment specialist, the season packs the volume into March to July, with headcount unchanged, and orders arriving by email stayed off-system, keyed in by hand by the order desk. The Order capture agent absorbs the data entry, and the order desk only has to validate.
“With Catalog we lose far less time entering orders. Now we can spend more time anticipating what customers need and handling exceptions properly.”
Order processingIn progressTo complete4
CDE-31207Filter reference to confirm.Complete
CDE-31211Delivery address missing.Complete
Sent to the ERP42
CDE-31198Recorded at 07:52.
Failed1
CDE-31202Attachment password-protected.
The agents that respond
The four agents these numbers call for.
Quote Follow-up
Identifies quotes with no reply and triggers a personalized follow-up at the right time. +10% quote conversion.
See the agentQuote processing
Identifies incoming quote requests, extracts them and records them into the ERP.
Page coming soon
Order capture
Extracts order lines from emails and records them into the ERP, with full traceability. 70% time saved on data entry.
See the agentCross-sell optimization
Applies your opportunity rules and suggests complementary products to customers. +5% average basket.
See the agent
Customers
They made the move.
Jean-François Le RudulierGroup CIO · Groupe Hedis“We genuinely wanted to automate the data entry and let the team focus on work where they add real value.”
Delphine MolléCustomer Service Manager · AVF BiomedicalThe diagnostic
Measure what your inbox lets slip through.
48 hours. One PST file. No ERP access. A report with figures on quotes with no follow-up and requests left unanswered over your last 90 days.