ProductPULSE 04 Aug-Sept 2022

13 TOPCAT

ARE YOU LOGGING YOUR LOST SALES? The recording of lost sales is fundamental to helping to improve the profiling in each of the branches and also helping the Product team review centrally.

Reason codes for lost sales in Babbage ZZa – No stock at branch, No stock in Company, No stock at HUB For use when you do not have stock, used to support profiling and potential demand issues. ZZc – Order incomplete For use when you don’t have a matching pair and lose the sale (ie, have OS steering arm in Anchler, but no matching brand for the NS). ZZd – Brand/Quality Wrong For use when the customer is looking for entry product when we have OE level or vice versa. ZZe – Price COMPETITOR For use when we lose a sale on a like for like brand, not if we are comparing OE to aftermarket or Best to Good products. ZZg – Catalogue error For use when the catalogue only shows one option and its supplied and returned as incorrect. ZZh – SLA Frequency For use when the customer is on timed or restricted service to assist the Operations Manager with route planning. ZZi – ECP Online Price Records potential channel conflict or errors in pricing matrix online.

How it works?

1 - Look up your part in Topcat. 2 - Add the part to the basket.

TOPCAT LOST SALES PROCESS

COMING SOON

1 - Post to K8 2 - Quote the price & Availability to the customer.

At this point if the customer rejects the offer price and sale you must register a lost sale in Babbage. This enables us to track issues in branch availability, branch demand, pricing and potential catalogue improvements.

Did you know? ■ Lost sales is vital to retaining our market leader credentials ■ Information submitted is reviewed and action taken at a company level

GOOD TO KNOW

To support the capture of lost sales we have also developed a direct feed for parts looked up on Topcat. In order for this to work correctly parts must be ‘Posted’ from Topcat to Babbage. This creates a link to check where a lookup has not resulted in a sale, and reviews the Branch, RFC and NDC stock at the point of the enquiry.

■ Without this data we are losing key data to ensure we are constantly reviewing our inventory strategy ■ 20% of Sales Advisors post from Topcat to Babbage, and less than 50% of their lookups causing gaps in data capture.