Creating a Consistent Sales Process for Excess Inventory
We talked with Dean Boegeman, the Senior Director of Sales Operations at Bob Evans Farms, to find out how – in just six months working with Spoiler Alert – we’ve helped them create a repeatable process for excess inventory that their customers can trust and improved their cost recovery.
About
For over 75 years, Bob Evans Farms has delivered quick-to-table, farm-inspired food. The company is a leading producer and distributor of sausage and egg products, with a portfolio including Bob Evans®, Simply Potatoes®, Egg Beaters®, and Owens® Sausage. Bob Evans Farms is owned by Post Holdings, Inc.
Industry
Refrigerated Foods / Consumer Packaged Goods
Headquarters
Columbus, Ohio, USA
At Bob Evans Farms, having a consistent process for managing excess inventory has not only materially improved cost recovery, but also, they are now working and thinking strategically with buyers with long-term goals in mind.
A Repeatable, Consistent Sale Process
Before working with Spoiler Alert, Dean said the process for excess inventory at Bob Evans Farms was “very manual.” With Spoiler Alert, that’s no longer the case. With a bi-weekly process now in place, Bob Evans Farms publishes their excess product for sale on Mondays, awards it on Thursdays, and schedules pickups and deliveries for the next week.
“Beyond the benefit of the time and cost savings, we also have the ability to award it and ship it consistently,” says Dean. “We go in, we award it, and we see what we’ve awarded. We can send that information over to the customer services team, the orders get booked. It’s very streamlined and efficient. We all feel very comfortable with the process.”
Working Together Strategically
Spoiler Alert’s consistent process has also allowed Bob Evans Farms more visibility into their excess inventory sales, giving them valuable insights and information they’ve been able to share with buyers to help them work more strategically.
“We’ve started doing business reviews with our excess product customers about what they are looking for, what their customer base is interested in, and what products they like most,” says Dean.
Six Months In: What Are the Results?
Immediately upon engaging with Spoiler Alert, Dean noticed Bob Evans Farms had visibility into more customers. “We had sold to some of them in the past, but it was purely by happenstance,” says Dean. “Now, we have more people competing for our inventory.”
At their six-month review, Dean reported that working with Spoiler Alert resulted in double-digit cost savings, in line with their cost recovery goals.
“I’m a big fan of Spoiler Alert, it’s made all our lives a lot simpler,” says Dean. “In just a short period of time, we’ve already extracted a lot of value.”
Relying on a manual process for selling excess inventory, with limited visibility into buyers and no repeatable cadence.
Before working with Spoiler Alert, the process for excess inventory at Bob Evans Farms was “very manual,” says Dean Boegeman, Senior Director of Sales Operations.
A bi-weekly, repeatable sales cadence with more visibility into buyers and reporting.
With Spoiler Alert, Bob Evans Farms put a bi-weekly process in place: publishing excess product for sale on Mondays, awarding it on Thursdays, and scheduling pickups and deliveries for the next week. “Beyond the benefit of the time and cost savings, we also have the ability to award it and ship it consistently,” says Dean. “It’s very streamlined and efficient. We all feel very comfortable with the process.”
Dean Boegeman
Senior Director of Sales Operations, Bob Evans Farms
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