Wholesalers / Distributors: How GPS Can Help

As the owner of a wholesale/distribution company, you should be aware that good sales efforts combined with proper controls equals ever-increasing profits. Let GPS assist you in examining your company’s following key areas: sales, purchasing, inventory, warehouse, delivery and administration.

GPS can help you control operating expenses and reduce costs thereby yielding profits—if you take the time revise your operations, you can make it happen. GPS puts systems in place to assure profits. Specifically, GPS can help you establish or improve the following desired elements:

Sales

  • Sound sales policies in selection, compensation training, territorial assignment and supervision
  • Knowledge of gross margin and profitability by account, product line, product, salesman and sometimes by individual order
  • Scheduled periodic reviews of results with present products and product lines and research into potentially profitable additions to present lines

Purchasing

  • Clear-cut policies of authority and responsibility of those involved in purchasing to prevent duplications and omissions
  • Maximum coordination starting with sales forecasting back through purchasing and inventory control to assure optimum inventory turn, minimum dollar inventory investment and good customer service
  • Exposure to all vendors to assure stocking most saleable items at lowest costs

Inventory

  • Inventory levels established properly to take seasonal variations into consideration
  • Procedures established to prevent capital tie-up by accumulation of obsolete and slow-moving items

Warehouse

  • Layout designed to achieve as close as possible straight-line flow from receipt of order to the shipment ready to go on shipping dock
  • Security measures followed to keep pilferage at a minimum
  • Implement proper training and tools to ensure warehouse supervisors do the job right

Delivery

  • Routes studied and scheduled to assure maximum time spent servicing customers and soliciting new accounts and minimum time doing aimless driving or other time-wasting activities
  • Controlled maintenance and repair costs
  • Careful check of loading and unloading to prevent pilferage and shrinkage

Administration

  • Authority and responsibility of key people clearly defined
  • Management information available to measure and control key personnel performance
  • Office procedures and paperwork sufficiently automated to accomplish objectives
  • Sound credit and collection policies