Contact management tools like ACT and Goldmine are used by many manufacturer' reps to manage sales. For for small rep firms, less than 5 sales people the tools are not stretched beyond capabilities. For rep agencies which sell with more sales people, and have more complexity, the basic contact managers are a bandaid to the bigger sales tracking problems.
Synchronization of sales data is the first pain. This is a cumbersome task; synchronization does not work for all sales data, documents being one data record that will not synch. This means that sales data, critical key account information is on sales people's lap tops. The manufacturer's rep, hired by suppliers because of relationships, does not control data. When data is not in a safe, central database, marketing and sales efforts lack unity and impact. Answer this question: can your rep firm send out a new product introduction data sheet with a couple of clicks or is this a time eating, hard process?
An online sales tool will bring safety and security to the rep firm's key sales data. All sales information is collected and stored, backed up and protected from virus and other attacks. The web based tool is accessible anywhere. Sales and key account data is now usable to market and to sell better. Just the organization of all data pays high dividends.