With portatour®, manual route planning is history for us. We now save up to 5 hours on planning alone. That's a saving of around 90% compared to before.
Adrian Leidner,
Head of Sales
Minderleinsmühle is an established manufacturer of chocolate products that supplies both the organic sector and food retailers in Germany. With 500 employees at two locations, the company is well positioned to perfectly serve its broad customer base. The sales department employs six people in the office and four at field sales force. The field reps use portatour® to optimally master the daily challenges of route planning.
Adrian Leidner works as sales manager at Minderleinsmühle. He is responsible for everything to do with brand sales, both internally and at field sales force. This also includes key account management. However, pure field sales coordination is the responsibility of a colleague. Adrian Leidner used to work in field sales himself and planned routes, which is why he already knew portatour® well.
Before the introduction of portatour®, the routes at Minderleinsmühle were always planned manually: "We often did this using Excel and Google Maps, which took around 4 to 5 hours. Now we're done in half an hour." Previously, the reports were also only carried out at the end of the working day, i.e. after all visits had been completed, which led to additional delays. "We soon realized that we needed a more efficient solution to automate these processes and save valuable time." The decision was made in favor of portatour® after a new colleague, who was familiar with the system from a previous company, pointed out its advantages.
We used to plan the routes using Excel and Google Maps, which took around 4 to 5 hours. Now we're done in half an hour.
Adrian Leidner, Head of Sales
The implementation of portatour® immediately brought noticeable improvements. Whereas it used to take a long time to work out how to best plan the routes, the system now does this automatically and many times faster: "In addition, the reports are created directly after the customer calls or at the latest in the parking lot, which saves a lot of time." In addition, this procedure enables a quick exchange with the office staff: "Reports, which used to be reworked in the evening, are now immediately available and can be viewed. The whole reporting from portatour® saves us 2 hours a week." If you add to this the 4 to 5 hours for manual route planning, Minderleinsmühle saves almost an entire working day per week.
Another important point is that no more customers are overlooked, as Adrian Leidner explains further: "We now have a clear overview of all customers, and no one is forgotten anymore." The field sales force can now plan visits systematically and ensure that all customers are regularly attended to within the specified call interval.
Reports that were previously reworked in the evening are now immediately available and can be viewed. This certainly saves us 2 hours a week.
Adrian Leidner, Head of Sales
The introduction of portatour® at Minderleinsmühle went smoothly. The tool was initially tested on a small scale before being rolled out to all field sales employees. Thanks to a structured introduction with two onboarding sessions, everyone was able to quickly familiarize themselves with the system. After just a few days, the team felt confident using the application. A high degree of customization was also achieved, as the system could be flexibly adapted to the specific needs of the company.
For Adrian Leidner and his team, the user-defined fields feature has proved particularly useful. At Minderleinsmühle, the entire field service team rates user-friendliness from portatour® very positively. The system is easy to understand and well structured. The quick and simple handling makes it easy for employees to concentrate on their main tasks instead of spending time on cumbersome planning processes.
All in all, it took us about a month to integrate the complete system. Now we are all familiar with it.
Adrian Leidner, Head of Sales
At Minderleinsmühle, they particularly appreciate the map and color logic, as Adrian Leidner emphasizes: "This is one of the most elementary points for us, because I can look at it and really see at a glance how a territory has been processed." In a matter of seconds, it becomes clear whether there are any gaps in the customer service. The visual display makes planning easier and optimizes the way the entire field service team works. Another practical feature is the system's flexibility when plans change: "If an appointment takes longer than planned, portatour® automatically updates the rest of the tour and shows which customer is best to visit next."
In summary, it can be said that portatour® has brought significant improvements in the efficiency and flexibility of route planning for Minderleinsmühle. The employees save time, have a better overview of their customers and can concentrate fully on the most important things: The optimal support of their customers.
With portatour®, we have structured our customers and redefined call intervals. This will enable us to work in an even more targeted manner in future.
Adrian Leidner, Head of Sales
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