Episode Transcript
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Welcome to Inside Insight, your quick hit of
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tips, tools and trends for manufacturing, Distribution
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and Dynamics 365 Business Central, brought
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to you by Insight Works. Welcome back to the
Ryan (02:50:10):
deep dive. You know, we gather all sorts of
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source material, articles, notes, research,
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and pull out the really crucial insights. Today
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we're diving deep into Dynamics 365 Business
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Central, specifically, how it can be well optimized
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for some really intense, high pressure sales
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situations. So let me paint a picture for you.
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Imagine you're behind a busy counter. Could
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be a trade desk, you know, construction supplies,
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maybe an agricultural parts counter, or even
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just a small buzzing outlet store. Phones are
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just going off, walking customers are lining
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up. Maybe your inventory is a bit tight on
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certain things. In those moments, the margin
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for error, it's tiny, razor thin, really. And
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yet what we often hear and what our sources
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point to is that businesses using Business
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Central in these exact environments sometimes
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hit, well, friction. Trying to get that smooth,
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accurate, fast sales process isn't always straightforward.
Emma (16:39:50):
That's exactly right. You see the standard
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sales order pages in Business Central, they're
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incredibly powerful, no doubt about it, very
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comprehensive. But I'd argue they were really
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designed for maybe a more deliberate, detailed
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kind of sales process, not necessarily for
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the unique speed and frankly, chaos of those
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counter scenarios. And this mismatch, well,
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it often leads to some pretty critical errors.
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Errors that can ripple right through the business
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and cause real headaches.
Ryan (23:39:20):
Okay, that's a key point. Critical errors.
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What sort of things are we actually talking
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about here? And why do they seem to hit so
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much harder in these, like direct counter sales
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compared to maybe a longer B2B deal? Well,
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the pressure itself really magnifies the impact,
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doesn't it? We're talking about mistakes that
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sound small but are actually incredibly common
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and damaging things like picking the wrong
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customer record. Maybe they have special pricing
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you just missed or grabbing the wrong item
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variant. Instantly frustrating for the customer.
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Then there's just inconsistent pricing popping
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up, or maybe missing the payment step altogether
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in the rush. And sometimes, honestly losing
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the sale entirely because the whole process
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felt too slow or clunky. And these aren't just,
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you know, minor inconveniences. Each slip up
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directly hits your cash flow, erodes that customer
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trust with every correction needed, and can
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seriously mess up your inventory counts. Stockouts,
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phantom stock, it all stems from this.
Emma (38:11:30):
You absolutely nailed the cumulative effect
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there. Think about a typical day at that counter.
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Let's say a walk in, customer comes up, asks
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for us, two cables. Simple enough, right? But
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in that standard BC sales order screen, the
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Rep types it in manually. But often there's
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no immediate context right there, like no quick
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prompt for this customer's price or if it's
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even in stock at this location right now. Or
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even a fast way to tell if they're a new customer
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already in the system beyond asking their name
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and maybe spelling it out. I've heard stories
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genuinely where reps spend a couple of minutes
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just trying to confirm basic customer details.
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Now multiply that by say 50, maybe 100 transactions
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a day. You're not just looking at a few errors.
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You're looking at hours of lost time, frustrated
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staff, and yeah, a growing line of impatient
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customers. It's death by a thousand cuts, truly.
Ryan (51:11:30):
And it feels even more complex when you get
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to something that should be simple, like checking
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a price or confirming if something's actually
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available. The sources really highlight how
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easy it is for someone under pressure to just
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forget to apply the right customer record first
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or the specific discount code, or even select
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the right warehouse or store location for the
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transaction. And any one of those small misses
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can make the price default incorrectly. Or
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worse, make stock look like it's unavailable
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when it's actually sitting right there on a
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shelf. I mean, I remember waiting for a part
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once, being told, sorry, out of stock. Turns
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out it was there, just in a different bin.
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The system didn't point the rep towards that
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kind of frustration. Multiply that daily. Ugh.
Emma (62:41:20):
And you know, it's not just about the manual
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typing either. Even technology we think should
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solve this. Like barcode scanners, they have
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their limits. If they aren't backed by the
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right logic, if that scanner isn't plugged
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into an intelligent workflow within business
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Central. It doesn't always, you know, save
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the day like you'd hope. You might. Scan a
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cable, scan a power supply, great. But the
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system doesn't think, hey, people usually buy
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this specific power cord with those. It doesn't
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guide the rep, it doesn't suggest related items,
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doesn't stop them accidentally grabbing the
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10 foot version instead of the 6 foot one.
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The scanner just inputs data. It doesn't add
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that layer of context or intelligence.
Ryan (72:49:40):
Okay, so if we just take a step back here,
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it seems pretty clear Business Central on its
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own isn't perfectly tailored for what you call
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trade counter chaos. And it's not really a
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flaw in B.C. itself. Right. It's more a difference
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in design philosophy. Its core strengths are
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elsewhere. Comprehensive data, managing complex
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processes, solid recordkeeping. But for those
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super fast context, heavy high volume counter
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sales, the standard screens can fall a bit
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short. They Often lack, say, an easy way to
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just search by a phone number or maybe an email
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address, which is how counter customers often
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identify themselves. They don't usually have
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that built in logic guiding the order based
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on who the customer is or what they're buying.
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There aren't as many guardrails maybe to stop
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someone skipping a step or applying the wrong
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discount. And generally you don't see role
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specific screens optimized purely for speed
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and accuracy for those frontline counter staff.
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Right. So if standard BC isn't quite hitting
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the mark out of the box for these really rapid
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fire situations, what do Countersteph actually
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need? What would a system look like if it adapted
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to them instead of, you know, forcing them
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to adapt to it?
Emma (90:27:50):
Well, what's fascinating here, I think is shifting
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from just seeing it as a data entry screen
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to thinking about a genuinely guided sales
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experience. The staff need tools that streamline
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things and build in some intelligence. So first
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off, picture something like a take order wizard.
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And I don't just mean a form, I mean a structured,
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repeatable process. Step by step, it guides
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the user, find or create the customer, confirm
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the right location, then accurately enter the
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items. Crucially, with all the correct pricing
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logic already baked in and applied automatically,
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Emma