Company Updates

Farmland Foods' Transformation with Numerik: Elevating Sales and Team Engagement

Jonathan Hubbard
Jonathan Hubbard
March 2, 2024

Farmland Foods National Sales and Marketing Manager, Robbie Dale leans over the table, saying: “If Numerik was publicly listed, I’d be buying shares in a massive way. Numerik is an absolute industry disruptor because they get the psychology of sales and what salespeople need, and they’ve stuck that in the palm of your hand in an app that’s incredibly light and fast.”  

The Farmland Foods sales team have only been using Numerik for four weeks, but Robbie says, “It feels like we've been using it forever. We've had instantaneous uptake, it’s part of our live ecosystem, the sales team lives on it already, and that's testimony to how good the system is. The sign of a brilliant tool is that you go, how did we live without this?”

A sales tool that can move with the times

Robbie explains: “We’re stocked in every single supermarket in this country, so we’ve worked incredibly hard, and we’ve seen good growth. But in the fastmoving FMCG sector, if you're not on the shelf, you miss a sale every second. On average, consumers take only eight seconds to make a purchasing decision on smallgoods. Product moves fast, so our sales team need to be able to keep up, and we need a sales tool that can move with the times.”

“We already had a CRM tool but I’m always looking for optimisation, asking how can we sell better, faster? Our salesforce today spend so much time on mobile devices, so we need something that works well on mobile. I was looking for a mobile sales app that gives the sales team access to all the data they need, and I stumbled across Numerik.”

“Numerik is social media combined with data and not just numerical data but visual data. Being able to post video, photographs, and voice notes really gives the sales reps a boost. Numerik has given us a single tool, where reps and customers are benchmarked and all the data we need is there. In any business today, data is currency. And because Numerik sits in our live ecosystem, the data is constantly being updated. Our guys can walk into a store, and two clicks later, report back to the team. That’s a true gamechanger.”

An absolute gamechanger because of the speed

Robbie explains why Farmland Foods decided to make the shift from their CRM to Numerik. “CRMs are very one dimensional. And if the last three years have taught us anything, it’s that you’ve got to be able to adapt. And the other thing we've learned is that time is precious. So, you need an all-encompassing tool that helps you move fast, and CRMs aren’t that tool. But we found Numerik offers that speed from a decision making and information perspective. I can walk into a store, see what they’ve bought, see what they haven’t bought, see how they rank against other stores, and quickly elevate the discussion with their buyer.”

“We have service level agreements with supermarkets. So, when any alerts come through on Numerik we open them up straightaway because that’s live info from our customers. Numerik is permanently open on my laptop and my phone. We've seen huge engagement, not just from sales reps, but from our production team, our directors, and all our stakeholders. We’re a team of 180 people, one big family providing New Zealanders with food, so when everyone can see what’s happening live that makes Numerik an incredibly active and engaging tool for us.”

“Our CRM got us to a great point, but Numerik is an absolute game changer because of its speed. If I don't have time to prep for a store visit, I can walk in, open Numerik, and instantly get a clear picture of sales opportunities. That's amazing because before we had to go to multiple locations and correlate data to get that picture. Now we have all that in one click on one app, and when our reps combine that insight with what they see on the shelf and what our customers say, we've a very powerful tool.”

The psychology of sales in an app

One of the questions we always ask Numerik customers, is are you seeing good return on your investment in Numerik? Robbie says, “When I was watching the Numerik demo my immediate thought was, finally, somebody who knows sales went to developers and said, ‘Build this’.”

“Most sales tools aren’t developed by salespeople, and the people who build them don't know the psychology of what makes salespeople tick. And you have to know the psychology of selling. Relationships are the number one reason why people buy, so it’s brilliant that finally, Numerik has got the psychology of sales and stuck it into an app.”

“My Numerik demo was one of those presentations where every time I was about to ask a question, the demo covered it off. As a sales manager, that demo got me at a very deep psychological level and the cost of the tool became incidental. I saw the benefit, so I never looked at the cost. The fact that the tool is actually cost neutral compared to our previous CRM, is an absolute bonus, and Numerik is so much better. Don't tell Numerik, but we’d pay double.”

One of the most seamless integrations we’ve seen

Robbie explains that onboarding with Numerik was one of the most seamless integrations he’s experienced. “We had an onboarding deadline because I wanted Numerik live to show my sales and marketing team when we were together for our pre-Christmas planning session. Numerik hit that deadline and everything worked. They were solution driven. They had a plan and they executed. It was very simple, and their communication was clear, calm, and concise.”

“After we went live, we made some minor changes after feedback from our sales team. The team left for the day at 6:00pm, Numerik called me at 7:00pm, I asked them to change a few things, they made the changes overnight, and the next morning the sales team walked back in and went wow. That level of responsiveness supports the speed of the way we work in FMCG.”

“The other big thing is that Numerik are very good trainers. Part of the success of rolling out a program like this is the richness of engagement when you train. Numerik’s training commands attention, and the training sessions were very well structured.”

“Numerik are passionate about their product, their customer service is impeccable, and there’s relentless follow up from their side. I’ve nothing but positive things to say about them, in fact, I wouldn't be able to suggest one thing that they could have done better.”

The tool sales teams need, right in the palm of their hand

Buying patterns are changing so fast in New Zealand that what worked two weeks ago doesn’t work today. Robbie explains: “It’s a massive benefit to have a live ecosystem, where a merchandiser walks into a store at 6:00am, sees there's no stock, and can be placing an order by 6:15am. It's instantaneous. Whereas before, with our old CRM, nothing was live.”

“I always gauge a tool’s success on engagement. Are the team using it? And do they find it easy to use? The richness of the team’s engagement with Numerik is incredible. The guys are coming up with innovative ways of logging data, doing voice memos after store visits, and sending challenges to other reps. I can see how quickly they respond to anything raised.”

“The engagement at every single level is incredible. Eddie Davis our Managing Director is on Numerik, commenting, giving thumbs up and awarding trophies. You know when the senior leadership team gets involved you’ve got something fantastic.”

“The other big benefit is Numerik breaks down barriers between internal departments and puts sales data in a manageable format in everyone’s hand. If I’d asked people to log into our old CRM, nobody would’ve done it, but when they see an alert on Numerik, they all get involved. Numerik has improved everyone’s awareness of our sales trends. If we gain or lose share of shelf everybody knows. I don’t have to sit in the leadership meeting and explain the latest sales trends anymore, because they follow them on Numerik. We're all on the same page.”

Book a Numerik demo and see the gamechanger for yourself

Numerik’s built by sales professionals, for sales professionals. That’s how we deliver the game changing business results Robbie is seeing at Farmland Foods. To test drive the best sales tool on the market, book your Numerik demo today.

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