Kent Express provides a comprehensive selection of branded and own label products to more than 15,000 customers. In the UK the name Kent Express is synonymous with the supply of quality dental products.

According to Scott Findlay, general manager of Kent Express, the healthcare market is growing but margins have been eroded: "We have about 21,000 products lines and 15,000 customers. It's a steady market; on the distribution side it's growing at a few percent per year, but there has been some consolidation over the last three years and margins are under pressure."

With no sales representatives out in the field Kent Express relies exclusively on its telesales operation. "We have four sales representatives making outbound calls and 12 taking inbound calls," explains Findlay. "We purchased VECTA sales intelligence primarily for the outbound team."

VECTA sales intelligence software monitors, analyses and measures customer histories and sales processes, helping companies to increase their share of customer spend and achieve higher profitability per order. The software provides sales staff and management with a comprehensive view of all customer and sales activities. By analysing customer buying patterns and generating detailed information on sales opportunities, VECTA enables sales professionals to sell more effectively.

"Before VECTA we had challenges getting key information," says Findlay. "We were able to determine that customers had stopped buying from us but not what they had stopped buying or when. VECTA has given us that information and the opportunity to act on it."

Kent Express installed a JDEdwards ERP system in May 2003. "Our ERP system solves a lot of our warehousing problems but there's really very little in terms of marketing and sales assistance within the package. It has a sales order entry function but in essence it doesn't support the sales function and can't perform lead generation or identify prospects," comments Findlay. "This is why we've bought VECTA into the business.

There were a number of customer objectives behind the decision to invest in VECTA as Findlay explains: "We were looking to identify customers that had drifted, build customers that were already strong, and identify new potential customers through which we could get increased sales volumes."

"VECTA allows us to take a more consultative selling approach. We've used VECTA to identify categories and highlight customers who have been buying certain products but not related products. We are then able to survey them on what products they are purchasing and offer solutions to increase the sales volume."

The sales intelligence that Kent Express is getting out of VECTA has also been well received by the company's suppliers as Findlay explains: "We've been able to go back to suppliers and say 'Here's a list of customers that don't buy any of your range of products. Can you give us some special offers for that segment of the market?' We've been able to sell it to our suppliers as a way of growing their share of the pie. That's been very positively received."

There are a number of advantages to implementing VECTA alongside an ERP system like JDEdwards. "You can determine the sales performance of your team and quickly and easily report on changing trends within the market," says Findlay. "You can identify sales opportunities, create targeted campaigns and customer specific promotional campaigns and you can move more towards an account-based sales management. The solutions complement one another very well."

VECTA is being used to direct sales strategy and monitor performance, and Kent Express is looking at using it as a sales commission tool. "The commission structure for the sales team is based on the percentage of profit compared to the same period the previous year," explains Findlay. "We can use VECTA to determine the team's commission."

The sales team at Kent Express has reacted well to VECTA, reports Findlay: "It's a very easy tool to use. The Alert side of VECTA is very good and can highlight quickly any issues or trends that are changing in the market place. Our team uses it as its primary tool for contacting customers. With VECTA they are more proactive and they are more prepared. They know exactly what they need to talk about with the customer."

Kent Express has achieved a significant increase in revenue since deploying VECTA. "On the outbound sales side we are seeing approximately 35 percent growth since implementing VECTA," says Findlay. "Overall we've had an improvement in gross profit of about two percent. VECTA is helping us identify, create and make more of every sales opportunity."

Scott Findlay
General Manager
Kent Express