Posted on May 16, 2022 / by Webmaster / in client success stories, mobile app project

Success Story: HTL pumps up their sales efficiency with a new enterprise mobile app

More and more enterprises are embracing mobile technology to improve their customer-facing business process. The goal is to increase operational efficiency, sales revenues and customer satisfaction. This is no exception to HTL, a forward-thinking and innovative company that designs and manufactures an extensive range of Home Sewing, Quilting and Crafting products. In this article we’ll see how the company is making use of a tailor-made mobile app to help their sales team to work smarter and close more deals.

Indeed the new enterprise mobile app is what we usually refer to as a Digital Product Catalog. The purpose of such app is essentially to keep and provide all the most up-to-date and important product information to users. Users will have access to this product information when and wherever they need it.

Having the new app in their hand, salespeople can do their job faster and spend more time in making more sales. Does it sound miraculous!? Not exactly. Indeed it’s just a small piece of mobile technology added to the existing infrastructure to boost sales performance.

The drive behind HTL’s enterprise mobile app development

Having tens of thousands of SKUs and countless customized versions on their list of inventories, the sales team had been struggling to find an effective way to search product information easily and quickly. The problem is further amplified when they are working out in the field. They do not always have the luxury to reply to the client until they’re back in the office. Many clients would like to see right away their order history, new products, pricing, lead time, etc. They might want to decide their next order immediately in a meeting, especially when preparing for the holiday seasons. The clients need to make sure they can meet their customer demands without any hiccup.

As with many other large corporations, the main operation of HTL runs on a mighty ERP system. It seamlessly transfers data and information across all functional units. It provides countless features and benefits to the whole enterprise. However, no matter how vigorous the ERP system is, it is not designed to share data outside the enterprise.

With the release of the new enterprise mobile app, the salespeople is now having easy, instant and remote access to timely and critical sales and product information.

A basic business app. Yet robust enough to make a big difference.

We are not going to cover and explain every bit of the new app in detail. In order to give you some ideas how it works, we have outlined and shared here below a few handy features:

1. Pulling out information of a product quickly

There are plenty of mobile solutions that revolve around scanning barcodes or QR codes. This is extremely useful in big inventories. So the first thing we do is to turn the camera on the mobile phone into a scanner. The users can just scan the barcode printed on the package or brochure to locate a product on the mobile app.

If somehow there is no barcode available, users can find a product using a Smart Search function on the same screen. By entering a keyword or a (partial) product number, the app will return with a list of all possible matching items within seconds. From there, the user would have more options to sort and filter to refine his/ her search. At the end every product is findable and visible. Everyone is able to find what they want to find easily and quickly.

2. From salespeople to business partner enablement

The original idea of the project is to give salesperson access to the latest product information using their mobile device. It was not in the brief to open up the app to users outside HTL.

However, after a few first internal trials, the project team found that the app is really simple and intuitive. Literally no training or extra technical support is needed to start using it. That’s when the project team decided to open up the app further to a few other major distributors. Now they are able to do a lot of product inquiries and order reconciliation on their own.

But then we did not just create a few additional user accounts for those distributors. We have to limit their data access to the more general product information and transactions of theirs only. The real challenge here is we have to verify thoroughly the information the mobile app presents is 100% accurate. And no one is seeing information that they are not supposed to.

3. Sensitive information is securely guarded

To access the app, the user must log in with his User ID and Password. It’s nothing special in this respect. What we need to be thoughtful about is the app does not just contain some general product information. The app is also holding quite some sensitive information in it. This sensitive information includes order histories, costs, margins, etc. It is for sure no company would like to share them with an outsider.

The tricky part about this sensitive information is the salesperson would always have to share their screen with the client they are talking with. So as to safeguard this sensitive information from leaking or being peeked at, we have added a second level password. To unlock this sensitive information, the user must enter their phone’s password or use its bio-authentication.

4. An epitome of mobile strategy: keeping the customer conversations going

One way to keep customer conversations positive and productive is to do a regular follow-up call with each client. By keeping full records of products that have been browsed by the clients at any given date, the app makes the follow-up process a whole lot easier and meaningful.

HTL CRM sample screen-products browse history by client — An epitome of mobile strategy: Products that were opened and viewed during a meeting, or browsed by the clients using their own login are recorded at the backend. To do a sales follow-up, all salespersons need to do is to pull out and email the list to the client with a few clicks. When could be a better time to call a client when they are most interested and receptive?

All products that have been opened for browsing are recorded by Date, Salesperson and an ad-hoc Session ID. The Session ID is used to separate and identify, for example, multiple conversations with different prospective clients at a trade show. These browsing records are then uploaded to the cloud automatically. At the backend system, salespeople have the options to either print out the list or send an email to follow up with the client. It’s never easier to engage in conversations with what the client has seen and shown interests.

Wrapping it up

We don’t have to explain repeatedly the many advantages of having an enterprise mobile app for your business. In the contrary companies that are relying on old-fashioned business process do not only risk losing their competitiveness, they may even no longer able to attract young talents to join and grow with them.

About HTL

Formed in Hong Kong in 1991, HTL quickly became the major producer & exporter for Sewgroup International. The company is proud to be one of the largest global producers and creators of Sewing Notions / Haberdashery Products sold under our own 12 famous brands or indeed under license for existing global brands. With a strong team of professionals providing top quality service combing an exciting blend of extensive experience, clear product focus and youthful energy, organized inside a well-driven Hong Kong China organization, HTL is constantly delivering the latest creative and extensive Home Sewing, Quilting and Crafting products.

Technology Voucher Program HK

The project is partly funded by the Technology Voucher Program in Hong Kong (TVP HK). It had successfully applied and gotten 93% of the application amount approved.

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