How an item management system can help your sales process

If you work for a large company and/or deal with large amounts of stock, item management can be a daunting task. Larger amounts of stock can often carry a higher risk of concerns such as damage, spoiling and theft, and therefore need to be tracked more carefully so none of your assets become lost or unaccounted for. For this reason, there exist methods of tracking and counting your stock called item management systems.

Item management systems are comprised of the processes that businesses go through to help them manage their stock and keep track of their product sales. For a larger company, an item management system could be an app or software that automates their business processes for them. For a smaller company or someone self-employed, an item management system could just be a spreadsheet, or even some paper and a pen that they update regularly.

What are the benefits of using an item management system?

Never run out of stock 

As the name suggests, item management systems are designed to help you manage your stock and products. In doing so, you avoid the risk of miscounting and running out of stock prematurely. Running out of stock can cause all sorts of problems for a business, the main one being the fact that you are unable to provide your customer with what they ordered and will probably have to refund them. This may not only negatively impact your reputation but it also means that you miss out on a sale, as that customer will most likely feel disappointed or dissatisfied with your service.

Inventory management systems are designed to alert you to low levels of stock and therefore allow you to take action when needed, ensuring that you don't run out of items and miss out on a good sale.

Reduce the cost of storage

If your company is storing more products than it needs to, you could be racking up some serious storage costs in the long run. Using an item management system, you can forecast how much stock you will need in the near future so you can be sure to keep only the necessary stock and save money on refrigeration, warehousing and other methods of storage.

Reduce the cost of waste

Similar to the previous point, by unnecessarily keeping too much stock, you put your products at more risk of spoiling or being thrown away due to not being purchased. This is a more prevalent problem in the food and makeup industries where the stock has a tight shelf life due to being made from natural ingredients with an expiry date. Using an item management system allows you to prepare in advance and only keep the necessary amount of stock for the year ahead,

Reduce stress

An often less considered aspect of having an item management system is the positive effect that it can have on your employees. Because they are mostly automated, item management systems (even simple ones such as spreadsheets) can increase productivity among your staff by reducing the amount of time they spend managing stock and frees up their schedule to let them do finish important tasks. While many would not consider this a hugely important area of item management, it shouldn’t be under-estimated! After all, a happy workforce is a productive workforce.

Can we help?

Zigaflow’s item management software allows you to store a catalogue of your products and services within its system so you can add them to your quotations with ease. You can also add visual information such as photos or diagrams, create pricing for your products in multiple currencies, and create kits of multiple products to quickly add them to a quote in one click.

If any of these features sound beneficial to you or your business, Zigaflow might be just what you need. To book a demo with us and get in touch with one of our staff, click here.