Impol Servis, which has been dealing in the sales of aluminum semi-finished and finished products for over 30 years, is a member of the Impol Group, which is considered one of the largest aluminum processors in this part of Europe and ranks sixth in Slovenia in terms of export. Their basic guidelines set them apart from the rest: flexibility, responsiveness, short lead times, quality, immediate delivery, and customer care services. 

The company wishes to keep pace with developments. It is in a constant quest for innovative digital solutions which ensure its competitive edge and a top-notch user experience for both customers and employees. According to Marko Žunec, the Director, digitalization optimizes processes and saves time for the Company’s employees and customers.

Challenges: non-uniform channel for receiving inquiries and time-consuming preparation of quotes

Fences are one of the products of the Company’s product line, which are marketed under the NABO brand. Fences, both garden fences and balcony fences, are complex tailor-made products. Each fence differs in shape, color, length, width, number of slats, ground plan, etc. Providing such complex products has made the sales process relatively tricky.

Orders for fences submitted by phone or e-mail needed to be complete because the customers rarely submitted all the information a sales representative would need to prepare a quote. The customers and sales representatives required much interaction to obtain all specific information about the fence.

This was followed by preparing the quote, which included a manual calculation of the fence’s price according to the specifics provided. On average, a sales representative needed 40 minutes to prepare the quote, depending on the complexity of the fence. With the calculation being made manually, human errors were not excluded. 

At Impol Servis, only one person is in charge of the fences. In the event of increased demand, this person had to work overtime to respond to all orders in a reasonable amount of time.

Therefore, they were interested in finding an innovative digital solution to remedy the challenges above and put a top-notch consumer experience at the forefront. They opted for the SaleSqueze configurator.

Solution: a configurator preparing a quote automatically

The SaleSqueze configurator guides the customer through discovering and adjusting their fence and submitting their order.

With the introduction of the configurator, fences manufacturers obtained a uniform channel for accepting inquiries because customers who contact them by phone or e-mail are also directed to the configurator.  

For the configurator to become the first channel for submitting orders was also a result of a well-premeditated idea of directing the website visitors to it. The company uses a link to the configurator as a single call to action.

The configurator contributed to substantial time savings as it automatically prepares the quote, which the sales representative only has to verify and then sends to the customer with a single click. This way, they save approx. 35 minutes per order, meaning they process orders 8 times faster than before. The time they keep is then used to develop customer relations and conclude transactions.

Time used for the processing of an inquiry before and after the introduction of configurator

Activity	Time used before	Time used now	Time saved
Reviewing an inquiry	10 min	5 min	5 min
Reviewing whether an inquiry comprises all required data	10 min	0 min	10 min
If yes	0 min	0 min	0 min
If no	5 min	0 min	5 min
Preparing the quote	10 min	0 min	10 min
Reviewing the quote	5 min	0 min	5 min
Submitting the quote	1 click	1 click	/
Total:	40 min	5 min	35 min

The product’s business logic is saved in the configurator, so the calculation is no longer subject to human errors. In addition, sick leaves or holidays do not impact the process.  

The configurator automates the process from the sales to the production as the working order is generated automatically with the bill of materials and then sent to the production. 

The configurator puts the customer first

In planning the configurator, customers were put at the forefront, with the company wanting to provide them with a top-notch experience ordering a fence. The customer is guided through discovering the fences, adjusting them according to their wishes, and submitting the order.

The configurator also saves time for customers who can now discover the product from the comfort of their home, obtain the quote, and then decide whether or not to buy the product based on this information. 

The customers and the sales team appreciate the traceability and a mutual review of the data accuracy. Entered electronically, the data is always available and may be updated. Each time the quote is revised, it gets a new revision number. This way, each change can be traced without deleting the previous one, with the last revision always considered the current version. 

Key results of the configurator 🚀

The combination of a great product, a well-designed marketing campaign, and an engaging user experience of the configurator brought the company top results:

• 14 times more inquiries compared to the same period in 2020
• inquiries are processed 8 times faster, i.e., in 5 minutes instead of 40 minutes.

Impol Servis is the first company in Slovenia that allows its customers to create their fences using a configurator. The Director of Impol Servis says that investing in digital solutions that make the customers go “wow” and optimize one’s intern processes brings about competitive advantages. An excellent user experience and marketing strategy also lead to superior business results.