Case Studies - Guided Selling - eLogic Group, LLC

Guided Selling

Business Challenge

One of the largest manufacturers of hospital products in North America was poised to introduce a radical innovation in medication infusion equipment. Hospital pharmacies would be able to set up electronic libraries to define the constraints for the controlled delivery of patient medication. These libraries would then be downloaded to infusion pumps stationed at the patient's bedside. When caregivers connected medication IV bags to the pumps, the information from the libraries would ensure that one or more medications would be given to the patient in a safe and controlled fashion, all in accordance with the boundaries established by the pharmacy. This solution would be available to Hospitals and alternative care facilities in several variations, from a simple entry-level solution to a fully wireless network based platform capable of handling thousands of patients and pumps.

The company's sales force was faced with the daunting task of selling a new and highly sophisticated system solution, available in a number of different configurations capable of addressing a wide variety of customer needs and facility circumstances in order to win a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract. The company's Sales management wanted to deploy a comprehensive eSales application on tablet PC's to assist the selling process. The business requirements were:

Guide the salesperson through an interactive sales process to match the customer's current requirements and future plans against the optimal system solution
Configure the proper components of the system solution, including selection of an appropriate combination of accessories and disposable products
Develop accurate pricing for the system components. Pricing would need to be broken down into two important categories: up-front, one time costs; and recurring annual costs calculated over a five year time frame.
Apply appropriate commercial information, including taking into account that many health care facilities belong to Group Purchasing Organizations (GPO's) and therefore are entitled to special, across-the-board discounts that differ by product class
Generate professionally formatted PDF Customer Quotation documents
Provide full application functionality when no internet connection or central server is available, but also be able to synchronize quotation data, master data, and product configuration rules with a central server located at a 3rd party hosting facility
Develop custom graphical user displays to meet strict federal government guidelines that dictate exactly what information can and cannot be shown about medical products
Support collaboration with factory Contract Analysts to arrive at proposals that meet customer needs while protecting product margins and company product liabilities

eLogic Business Solution

Based on our track record of success, cost-effectiveness, experience with eCommerce tools, and depth of project management skills, eLogic was selected to provide professional services work. The first phase of the project was to conduct a vendor evaluation. Working with senior management and a cross-functional internal team, eLogic developed the process, data, and systems requirements. Five viable vendors were identified to provide the base software. These vendors responded to an RFP containing roughly 200 questions used to rank the software in various categories. eLogic's vendor evaluation process, refined through numerous engagements, allowed the team to accurately identify software strengths and weaknesses, and guide the client in selecting the one that best fit the business requirements.

The second phase of the project was implementation of the eSales application. The eLogic team defined the detailed process, data, and technology requirements; designed the overall solution; developed configuration models, developed customizations to the vendor's commerce functions; branded the entire site; conducted unit and systems testing; migrated the solution to the hosting environment; and assisted in the initial roll-out to 160 Tablet PC users in the sales force. Key eLogic implementation highlights were:

Designed and developed a sophisticated, user-friendly tool for customer Needs Analysis that enables salespeople to discuss current needs and future plans while at the health care facility. The tool reacts to customer answers by classifying products into time-based recommendation categories. Users can obtain comprehensive explanations as to why certain products are, or are not, recommended at this time. The tool is designed to accommodate the customer dialog by allowing the user to start on any question on any page, moving back and forth as needed until a complete analysis is developed.
Designed and developed a medication delivery product configurator capable of handling all medication delivery devices at the same time, leveraging data from the Needs Analysis sessions and the Customer Master database. The configurator determines recommended quantities for devices, disposables, and accessories while allowing overrides that will in turn drive calculations on other elements of the configuration. The configurator is highly specialized in its ability to present disposables and accessories in a Catalog pop-up page that meets all government oversight requirements.
Designed and developed a fully automated pricing model that: derives prices based on ceiling and max functions; accommodates four classes of prices (min, max, floor, open); organizes costs into one-time and recurring; provides unit and extended prices; supports GPO price lists; and, allows for manual overrides based on user authorizations.
Built Document Generation capability that allows users to create rich, high quality proposals with just a few mouse clicks. The document generation mechanism organizes all of the device configuration data, product disposable and accessory data, and price data into one easy-to-read format while maintaining the necessary level of flexibility in presentation to the customer.
Rationalized and simplified the Customer Master and Contact data for use in developing and tracking quotations and proposals
Identified and developed customizations to the eCommerce functions to support custom search techniques on quotes, customers, contacts, contract analysts, and sales team members
Incorporated links into sales/marketing collateral and links to help pop-ups to assist in the customer/salesperson dialog

Results Achieved

This project was completed in 11 weeks, within budget. Highlights of the benefits achieved were:

Salespeople use Tablet PC's to conduct a needs analysis in the customer's office with 100% of product recommendations, including alternatives for the future, being derived by the application
Immediate access to electronic marketing collateral, including product drawings, sketches, and photos
Over 90% of customer quotes are priced directly by the sales force, including GPO contract pricing
Over 90% reduction in field sales pricing errors
Elimination of product compatibility errors
100% inclusion of mandatory or essential accessories and disposables
100% automation of Quote Document Generation