Original Date: 07/09/2007
Revision Date: / /

The Inside Sales/Product Support process used by the Inpro/Seal Company ensures that customers get the proper bearing isolator for their application by need-date. Having a central point of contact respond to request for quotes, order entries, technical support, and engineering design ensures that customers receive consistent and accurate information concerning the status of their bearing isolator request.

Inpro/Seal, a manufacturer of non-contact bearing isolators, has developed a unique process for inside sales or product support to assist their 22 regional managers who are located worldwide. The company has six inside sales representatives, each serving as the primary support individual for a given number of the regional managers. The role of the regional manager is to market Inpro/Seal’s products to company customers, provide technical expertise in helping customers make the appropriate selection of bearing isolators for their application, and provide training and education to their customers. If needed, the regional manager will assist customers to install the seals in their products.

Each inside product support representative/inside sales representative is in daily contact with his or her respective regional managers and helps to solve technical issues that the regional managers face in the field along with assisting customers in getting timely quotes for their product needs. Each of the product support representatives receives extensive training in the technical/mechanical understanding of bearing isolators and their different possible applications, manufacturing processing, and product quoting skills.

When prospective customers want a quote for an Inpro/Seal products, they call one of the inside sales/product support specialists for a quote on price and delivery. The sales representatives fill out an Inpro/Seal Request for Quote data sheet that contains 17 critical questions relevant to the product. Based on the answers to the questions, the inside sales representatives are able to access internal databases and provide quotes almost instantly. If the requested isolator requires engineering support for a new design, the sales representative contacts Inpro/Seal’s on- site engineers who will develop the new design/part number for the requested item. The quote is normally processed within the same workday.

The inside sales representatives are the primary contact for all orders placed with Inpro/Seal. They work directly with distributors, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and other end-users for processing orders and shipments. They also work directly with the regional managers, in-house engineering, and manufacturing in processing all Requests for Quotes. By having a central point of contact for all quotes and orders, customer needs are met consistency and accurately. Since Inpro/Seal provides products to customers worldwide, this further ensures that customer needs and regional manager needs are met by having inside sales/product support personnel on duty on staggered work hours and holidays. This enables Inpro/Seal to ensure that its reputation for “Same-Day Delivery” of custom bearing isolators is maintained.

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.