YARDLEY, PA, October 9, 2003 - Paul Fazio, president, Sonny's Enterprises, knows that the sales process does not stop with a close call. As a distributor, he must also deliver products quickly - and collect his cash.
Fazio uses Prophet 21 CommerceCenter, a Windows-based, SQL Server solution, to efficiently manage inventory while ensuring that customers receive - and pay - invoices in a timely fashion.
"What good is taking an order if you can't fill it?" Fazio asks. "CommerceCenter tells me what's in my warehouse on a minute-by-minute basis, and gives my accounting people real-time financial information so they can communicate effectively with my customers."
Prophet 21 provides distributors with technology solutions that help them increase sales, improve customer service, and reduce operating costs. In addition to industry-leading inventory management and cash collection tools, functionality incorporated in CommerceCenter includes order management, warehouse management, purchasing, financial management, reporting and analysis, and PDA integration.
"Prophet 21 understands that a distributor's business goes far beyond closing a sale," said Chuck Boyle, Prophet 21 president and CEO. "Our solutions help distributors deliver on promises of fast and accurate shipments while ensuring that they collect on their customers' promises to pay."
A Fine Reputation
Sonny's is the largest American distributor of equipment, parts, and supplies to the independent conveyorized car wash market. Customers expect the company to provide them with the highest quality products - everything from air supply equipment to portable pressure washers - in a timely, friendly manner, and Sonny's delivers.
CommerceCenter's strong inventory management tools have helped Sonny's improve inventory accuracy rates by more than 70 percent. As a result, the company completely fills and ships 99.8 percent of orders within hours of receipt - a 10 percent improvement from the company's pre-CommerceCenter days.
"We've developed a great reputation," Fazio said. "People know they get what they need when they call Sonny's, and they get it right away." CommerceCenter helps make a commodity industry more profitable: Because of its impressive reputation, Sonny's can compete on a performance - not price - basis, resulting in increased profit margins.
Collecting Cash
Like any company, Sonny's must contend with a handful of customers who do not pay bills on time. Automated dunning letters and a highly functional Cash Collections module have helped accounting staff reduce accounts receivable (AR) days by 30 percent. Perhaps most importantly, accounts aged over 90 days have dropped from 19 percent to 11 percent.
CommerceCenter's real-time financial information has helped accounting staff provide superior customer service, while enabling them to inform customers about up-to-the-minute account balances. "I always feel comfortable telling a customer exactly where he stands," said Laura O'Neill, assistant controller.
"Customers demand more as costs rise. You've got to do things through technology to get more out of your people," Fazio concluded. "CommerceCenter is a tool that will continue to help us become better, faster, more profitable, and easier to deal with."
