5 examples how to boost your sales and efficiency with company digitization (HoReCa sector)

The HoReCa sector is huge but tough to crack for beverage producers and distributors. ‍

‍The main problem? A serious lack of data.

Trends change, customer tastes shift, and keeping up feels like trying to hit a moving target. It's hard to stay connected with pubs and restaurants when you can't keep track of what they need or what's selling. Plus, without clear info, making decisions feels more like guessing than strategizing.

This is where company digitization comes in.

It means turning all that chaos into clarity.

Company digitization helps businesses understand what's going on in the market, see where opportunities are, and build solid relationships with outlets. For an industry that's all about fast changes and staying ahead, embracing digitization is key to not just surviving but thriving.

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Company Digitization as a Silver Bullet

Company digitization is a mindset change. It involves transforming traditional operations and models to digital ones, leveraging technology to automate processes, enhance data collection and analysis, and improve overall efficiency. 

Sounds great at first, but it might actually be a lot of work if you’re not approaching it the right way.

Why? Because company digitization goes beyond adopting new technologies. It involves a fundamental rethinking of how: 

• your business operates
• interacts with its customers
• and competes on the market

In the specific context of the HoReCa sector, company digitization can revolutionize the way beverage producers and distributors:

• acquire and connect with clients
• understand consumer behavior
• and adapt to market changes

It might mean better customer relationships, more (and better quality) leads, a clear view of the market in terms of structure or brand/product power and a better observation of what your competitors are doing. In short, it is a secret weapon for your market success. The silver bullet you’ve been waiting for.

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5 things that are going to change with company digitization

In this case, we’ll take Outlet Census Live (SharpGrid’s BI tool for the HoReCa channel) as an example and look at the changes that company digitization brings from a HoReCa market professional point of view (mostly sales, brand, finance or marketing).

• Strategy: By having access to the whole market overview you might spot emerging trends and react to them. You will also see how your teams are performing across markets which will allow you to adjust weak parts of your commercial process and focus your resources on the right things, saving your budget and increasing ROI.
• Sales: Your reps might create more quality leads, meaning there will be a higher success rate. Based on precise data and in-depth outlet intelligence they might target the right outlets with the right products and personalized offers. They will understand what the outlet needs exactly and how to approach the acquisition process. This will all improve sales efficiency. 
• Marketing: By understanding your position on the market via our Brand Insights feature, you will get a better picture of your brand’s or product’s strengths and weaknesses. This will allow you to focus on the right things in your marketing efforts and prioritize efficiently.
• Finance: No more money allocation based on gut feeling (which is often wrong no matter what we often tell ourselves). Company digitization with Outlet Census Live or similar products means managing your investments to people or assets with precise data. And as we all know, money and data work well together. 
• Data & CRM: Are your reps tired of manually collecting data and handling them in your CRM? Not to mention updating them so the information doesn’t go obsolete next quarter? Well, guess what? Company digitization also means automation. Which means less manual work, less menial tasks and more time spent on high added-value work that will boost your company’s ROI.

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Practical examples of company digitization approach

SharpGrid provides HoReCa (on-trade / on-premise / hospitality) producers like Coca-Cola, Heineken, Red Bull etc. data and tools to kickstart their digitization and beat their competitors. Our flagship product is Outlet Census Live. You can try its free trial today. Read on to discover its most common use cases.

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Outlet Census Live Trial

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Better lead generation

Outlet Census Live provides a market overview with every possible outlet ( = potential lead) that exists and can be targeted. 

With advanced data filtering, HoReCa sales reps or managers can filter outlets based on dozens of criteria (size, growth, potential etc.) and generate highly relevant lead lists instead of randomly choosing their targets based on gut feelings, rumors and other outdated approaches. 

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Time conservation

Company digitization with Outlet Census Live brings one major change to the way companies and teams operate. Historically, sales reps were tasked with collecting data from the field and managing it in CRMs. 

That often leads to randomly collected and updated data that can’t be relied upon. As outlets close down or change concepts and menus all the time, it is virtually impossible for individuals or teams to keep track of the changes and trends. Outlet Census Live is updated automatically, eliminating this never ending and menial part of the job.

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Higher success rate

With advanced outlet intelligence at their fingertips, sales reps can learn all they need about any potential target before they even hit the field.

All the magic happens inside outlet profiles. 

Outlet profiles feature allows sales reps and managers to approach negotiation preparations from a completely new angle with information about products on the menu, prices, outlet’s growth trend, its popularity or customer rating, size and seating details, cuisine and more. 

This information is available for every single outlet on the market regardless of geography or age. 

Outlet Census Live also regularly checks for newly opened outlets and any user can select just those created in the past quarter to gather information about them before hitting the field.

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Customer & lead management

With an advanced tagging system sales reps, managers and teams can tag specific outlets, access statistics (such as how big % part of the market is already among clients etc.) and keep track of the changes easily. 

It also allows for keeping track of the progress made by your team in certain areas or specific segments to better allocate your resources. 

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Market overview

Outlet Census Live is filled with market reports covering the entire market structure and insights on specific categories, segments, regions, brands or products. It allows for effortless analysis of the market and your position including its development over time. 

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Why should you go all digital

There’s a reason the most successful players on the market are adopting digital strategies and undergoing company digitization. 

It makes their workforce more productive and successful (and therefore happy and satisfied which in turn boosts their results even more), it takes loads of time off both managers’ and field reps’ backs and generally makes everything run smoother and cheaper. 

Outlet Census Live is a leading HoReCa BI tool with an all-in-one approach. You will instantly support all your commercial teams (sales, business development, marketing, analytics and more) for the price of one platform. 

Let us know if you’d like to try out Outlet Census Live for free today. We will gladly provide you with a 3-day free trial so you can test it out yourself.