- US Office Products Dealer Experiences Phenomenal Growth thanks to sales-i -

Solihull, UK - August 28th, 2009 - sales-i, (www.sales-i.com) the sales intelligence service for front line sales people today announced that Write Now! Office Products, a start-up that has been recognized as the fastest growing dealer in the United States, is putting much of its rapid success down to the instant sales intelligence it is getting from sales-i.

Derek J. Hartsfield is President of Write Now! Office Products and an industry veteran steeped in knowledge and understanding of combining Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Business Intelligence (BI) tools to maximize sales performance and visibility. So he was particularly well qualified to assess sales-i, an integrated sales intelligence and CRM solution that is taking the U.S. office products market by storm, when it was first brought to his attention by United Stationers. A few months down the line and he is happy to acknowledge, “I have used every CRM there is to use; sales-i is by far the best. Our numbers speak for themselves.”

And indeed they do. Write Now! has experienced phenomenal and unprecedented growth in the last 18 months achieving annualized sales in excess of eight million. sales-i is a key contributor to this growth enabling Derek and his sales team to spend 63% more time on the phone with customers realizing real sales opportunities. Derek explains, “It’s all about being prepared, making calls that count, backed up with substantive, intelligent data. So talk-time has increased, calls have increased and sales have increased. We no longer make ‘howdy doody” calls, we are on a mission with every one and the sales success is clear. We are the fastest growing privately held office products dealer in the U.S.; sales-i is key to that growth.

sales-i is delivered as an on-demand service charged on a per-user, per-month basis with no need for internal hardware or infrastructure. This model greatly appealed to Write Now!. So too did its already established integration with Red Cheetah software, the leading eCommerce and wholesaler-enabled solution that connects office product dealers with wholesalers and customers. Red Cheetah is the choice for many office products dealers, including Write Now!, which has just become Red Cheetah’s largest customer.

“This is pure sales gold,” Derek acknowledges. “sales-i has decreased my costs and I now use one integrated sales intelligence and CRM solution rather than two separate systems plus it integrates into Red Cheetah. It runs on a SaaS model which makes it so easy to engage with. But its overall USP is the way in which it serves the information. Its ease of manoeuvrability, with very few clicks to get to key information is what makes sales people use it so readily and this has to be congratulated. These guys have thought of everything!”

Derek is keen to share his sales-i success with other United Stationers dealers and happy to help and speak out about how they can achieve the same great sales intelligence. “I would say to fellow dealers, sales-i is key. It is the gold that can transform your sales successes. Our sales people have simplified their lives and this translates into commission dollars. Other pieces of the sales process are negotiable – this is not.”

Such has been sales-i’s success in the U.S. that the UK-headquartered company is now setting up local U.S. offices. However Derek is quick to allay any fears that U.S. product dealers may have about engaging with a service head-quartered outside of the U.S. “I had some early concerns about the sales-i team being based hours away from me but I can say with confidence that this is absolutely not an issue. I get support around the clock if I need it. This runs like a 24-hour operation. In fact I would go as far as to say that I get better service from sales-i in the UK than I have received from U.S.-based BI and CRM suppliers.”

Kevin McGirl is sales-i’s co-founder and has been working closely with many of the U.S. office products companies and dealers to build sales-i’s rapid U.S. market share, “We are indeed enjoying superb sales growth in the U.S. From a standing start just 9 months ago, we have already signed up 70+ U.S. clients. We have engaged with large office products industry groups like United Stationers, SP Richards, Trimega and IS and we have ensured integrations with key back and front office systems like Red Cheetah. In this way, we provide the key to unlocking sales inertia and missed opportunities, while maximizing sales team’s time on the road and on calls. A recent Yankee Group report found that sales people often spend just 25% of their time selling – the rest is spent on administration, preparation and travel. Our aim is to turn that situation around and give them back the face-to-face sales time.” Kevin continues, “We have achieved this and more with Write Now! and we are delighted with the confidence they have in us and our service. Derek, in his Dealer Consulting Business is now well placed to extend his knowledge and experience to other office products companies who want to increase sales through better informed sales intelligence that helps sales people get to the right sale, quicker.”

Derek now looks at his competition in a new light. “Understanding competition is key in any business,” he says. “But these days I just ask what CRM they are using. If it’s not sales-i, I know I can run circles round them!. sales-i rocks. ”

To find out more about sales-i and how it can transform your business please visit www.sales-i.com

About Write Now!

Write Now! Office Products is headquartered in Dallas, Texas and is led by a team of industry veterans with a singular focus: the customer. As a team of industry veterans Write Now! disagrees with the industry. The office products business is not about paper and toner or pens, pencils and paperclips; it is about you, the customer. Find out more at www.WriteNowOP.com.

About sales-i

sales-i© is a real-time sales acceleration service for frontline sales people. Through sales-i, sales professionals are empowered with real-time customer buying behaviour alerts which are delivered by email and text messaging, empowering them to make better informed, personalised and faster decisions which maximise repeat sales and reduce customer slippage.

sales-i is a true Software-as-a-Service solution charged on a per-user, per-month, basis.

Sales and marketing organisations rely on sales-i to accelerate their sales intelligence. This delivers protected customer share, better margins, visible cross-sell and up-sell opportunities and increased customer buying behaviour know-how resulting in more intelligent, profitable selling.

sales-i is a privately held company with offices in California, USA and Solihull, UK. For more information about sales-i visit www.sales-i.com or email tellmemore@sales-i.com

Copyright© 2009 sales-i. All rights reserved. sales-i and the sales-i logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of sales-i and/or its affiliates in the UK. All other brands, names or trademarks mentioned may be trademarks of their respective owners.