Will IPAD's Replace Salesman Photos Or Dealer Catalogs?

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I am a fabric agent selling wholesalers and converters in furniture and decorative fabric market. I want to load on all of my mills' products, all of my customers' status with each mill including PO history, Samples requested and status, Reserves, even emails. I'd like to be able to keep commission records on it and sales per customer so I can compare year to year, month to month. Big package goods companies have these automated. As an individual entrepreneur, I do it manually. Ugh! Does anyone have experience with an App like this for IPAD?

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I’m in the process of shopping for an online catalog or app to replace our paper catalogs. Were an upholstery company and I’m new to this so looking for some direction….

Great to see this since I am cofounder of a software company that is developing exactly this - iPad apps that Manufacturers can provide to Sales Reps and Dealers in place of catalogs. The apps are stunning visually and have an intuitive flow that allow Reps to build a presentation for a meeting, refine it during the meeting while working with a buyer and then place an order directly from the app or email the presentation to the dealer for final decisions. Happy to share more details if anyone is interested! ruth.amaru@imagiu.com

Most of the furniture dealers I call on still have paper catalog binders on an old lane bookshelf and paper price lists in an old metal file cabinet....so sad!!!

Mike,
Probably not on the salesman photos and absolutely yes on the dealer catalogs. The cost of dealer catalogs is approximately 10x the cost of rep photos so the return on investment for the manufacturer is much greater on the side of replacing dealer paper catalogs. This is already under way with a company called Interactive Catalog (www.interactivecatalog.net). This is really impressive and could simplify this entire industry if it takes off.

There’s another issue with an ipad rep presentation, some of us reps sell programs and not just items so we need a war room like presentation which can’t be done from a computer screen. Super Cat is a company trying to go the route of replacing salesman photos with an ipad presentation….this is going to be a tough sell in my opinion.

now we can download kathy ireland old shots of her model days and when she was a furniture design student....whats that she wasnt in design or even furniture ...oh well she looks good....sells gazillions and what a brand shes so amazing high quality too......no borax from her ........

Thinking Straight has excellent and very practical points regarding the need for easily tagging the YES and MAYBE photos. Inbedded shopping cart features or ability to bookmark is another answer.
In my experiments with laptops and a tablet computer, many buyers still love working with photos and hard copy catalogs. No doubt they will adjust if the entire industry goes digital. So much development still needs to happen before this trend really takes off in the mainstream, however. Particularly helpful would be a standardized software platform.
The reality is manufacturers must find cost effective ways to get their marketing materials out. Printing costs versus digital efficiencies in timeliness, flexibility and reasonable price-points are obvious. Everyone knows the end customer is very price conscious; manufacturers need to take measures to control costs, making this new trend compelling.
The thing that worries me is digital media is out of sight, out of mind. When you have a catalog or pile of glossies, your customer is handling these personally. They hold on to the item as they evaluate whether to buy or not. Plus, when the rep is not there to present, buyers tend to let their eyes wander to their bookshelves for inspiration. If there is nothing representing your product line, they could forget about researching the manufacturer websites.
To be honest, I wonder if buyers really tend to buy more from a digital screen, or from tangible photos...any thoughts?

My guess is that many of the posters here that are so enthused about this are the same guys that have been selling out of the company catalog (the bound book) instead of using sales photos in the first place.

I have read every comment posted and have always been one to leap onto new technology. There's just one critical consideration that everyone seems to be missing. Buyers need to be able to make intelligent decisions "after" they've seen your presentation. Sure, you'll occasionally get a small store that will say "give me two of those" as you go through your photos, with no regard for what might be ahead in your presentation (or with the other five lines you carry). The fact is, if you're going to maximize your order, the dealer is not going to be willing to go through your entire presentation multiple times (once to review, another to make buying decisions). Dealers have to be able to make physical piles, the YES, NO and MAYBE piles that we've all seen. You really can't expect a dealer to "remember" everything you show them as you go through. Perhaps there is an app that let's you "throw" photos into a folder as you go. If so, that's one possible solution. Maybe you have another?

Mike, great comments. As a multi, multi line rep. I can't wait to get all my stuff on the ipad. I remember when reps like me reisised getting a fax machine and a cell phone. Time sure flies.

Mike, yes Apple iPad will truly change the way a rep works and lives. I am a retailer and I carried only my iPad 2 while shopping market. I did not need a briefcase. I loaded every report, price and our own catalog on my iPad, it was awesome. I think it will Evan make the poorest rep more professional and efficient.

I have been using an IPad since Spring 2010 Market. Purchased in HP as wasn't available in Canada...MIND BLASTING TOOL! Will never go back to the armful of binders and order pads...Good Reader, Numbers, iMargin Calculator, Note Taker HD, Photo-Sort and of course Angry Birds RIO are a must. Nice update to Good Reader - ability to add notes to any pdf file. Great for market review and customer walk-a-bouts...Mac, it just works! Thanks Steve

Those who don't grasp the I-Pad will be left in the dust. You have already hit on all the reasons why. It just does an awesome job!

Great article Mike! I love my Ipad for all the reasons listed above. Apps that have worked great for me are as follow.

Goodreader - awesome app to organize any and all files, can email right from the app which saves a ton of time

Dropbox - to share larger files and work co-operatively on

MacWorld - for all the latest tips/tricks involving any mac product

I still haven't perfected ordering yet from the Ipad, but working on it. My guess is the app will come that will be a hybrid of goodreader/excel/numbers.

For Fun -

Pandora - I have actually made presentations with music playing the in the background, low volume of course

Angry Birds - safer than most substances but just as addictive

Lastly, I have had numerous buyers thank me for presenting on my Ipad as opposed to the paper catalog. Key takeaway here is that buyers are looking for a more high tech, cleaner, and efficient way to be sold to.

The quality of photo presentation on an ipad is better than any printer that I know of. It also enables a representative to "customize" presentations for a dealer. Photo sort is an excellent application for this, as well as keynote. There are many ways to get pdf catalogs, photos, documents etc. onto an IPAD. The most recent is the drop box application, which is "cloud" computing. You have all of your "key files" on a free online storage space that you can access with your IPAD or have your dealers access with links that you email to them. Sales is ultimately rooted in the better presentation and information, and the IPAD is a phenomenal tool to accomplish this goal.

Thank you all for your comments. If any of you have good applications we should be checking out, please let us know. It looks like many see the catalog and price list function being invaluable as do I. Does anyone have a good resource to start testing how to get a factory catalog and price lists --- even an order form --- onto an IPAD.
E.B. Sorry about the grammar, spelling, and punctuation. I am not a paid copywriter and I slept through 5th grade English. Feel free to recommend any spell check ap available on the IPAD as I am posting this from one now and no grammatical errors are popping up.

the factories need to have price lists and road maps b4 mkt .so we can down load them .i heardjofran does that

IPads are not just useful for sales reps. I use an IPad in my showroom to work with my customers whenever I can. I would love to have all my manufacturer's catalogs available online as well as pricing. It saves me from the monumental task of updating the books and I know I'm getting up to date information.

IPads are not just useful for sales reps. I use an IPad in my showroom to work with my customers whenever I can. I would love to have all my manufacturer's catalogs available online as well as pricing. It saves me from the monumental task of updating the books and I know I'm getting up to date information.

Mike
It is important for us in this industry to be current. For so long we have been considered to untrained, and being unable to train. The Ipads are an incredibile tool for us to be perceived as professionals. I work with a variety of dealers, architects and designers, all are excited about us getting IPads, to replace our catalogues , for when we make presentations.We have them on order and we will down load everything we can to make life easier, our presentations more professional and our bags lighter.

Good Morning.....yes this is of great interest to me as a retailer...one for each salesperson. It would give them the opportunity to carry every item available under their arm. That is convenience and efficiency in one package. I have alot to learn myself as to cost of this service but plan to find out in hopes of it being affordable in the very near future.

Mike,

no apostrophe needed for IPADs or PCs. They are plural and not possessives.

Watch out for those grammar gremlins.

Might I suggest that one of the grammar applications will now overtake Pandora as your favorite app?

Being able to have a dozen catalogs loaded into a one pound tablet has increased my ability to introduce clients to secondary and tertiary resources without lugging multiple suitcases through the streets on NYC.

Being able to have a dozen catalogs loaded into a one pound tablet has increased my ability to introduce clients to secondary and tertiary resources without lugging multiple suitcases through the streets on NYC.

I think that the tablet will utterly transform the nature of sales. That's why we founded StoryDesk.com, a handy and affordable way to bring sales demos to life on the tablet--and then take an order.