Prospecting and Winning Business
Pepper's prospecting tools are a key part of what make DSR's on the platform successful. Our map-based prospect finder and AI-powered order guide generator help reps find, pitch, and convert businesses of all kind directly within the app.
Note: Prospect Finder and Order Guide Generator are available to users with the Lite, Pro, and Enterprise plans for DSR Connect. If there are features that are unavailable within your application, please contact customer success if you'd like to upgrade your DSR Connect Service Level.
The Prospect Finder
Pepper's prospect finder uses Yelp data to locate businesses within a set geographical area. simply search a zip code, city, or place, and find the relevant businesses within the area. Prospect finder helps DSR's scout new business while keeping an eye on the customers they have today
Using Yelp data, users can find new business in a map view, create as new accounts in Pepper, and prospect to them. Businesses include:
Restaurants
Convenience Stores
Grocery Stores
Senior Care Homes
Country Clubs
Schools
Coffee Roasters
Gas Stations
Funeral Homes
How to Find Prospects
Note: Prospect Finder and the Order Guide Generator are only available within the mobile application, and will not appear on the web app on your computer.
To begin using Prospect Finder, navigate to the account switcher and click on the map icon in the top right. From there, browse the map, or enter zip codes or locations to find businesses in different areas:
Importing and Exporting Prospects and Data
Note: Prospect Finder currently works in the territories of The United States, Canada, and Australia
Within Prospect Finder, your ERP is the source of truth. During the initial integration, Pepper will perform a sync with your ERP to register your current customers and prospects, and data will continue to be sent from your ERP to Prospect Finder every two hours. This way, when users open up Prospect Finder, they're presented with a list of their accounts and net new businesses directly from your ERP.
However, actions taken within Pepper are not reflected within your ERP. If an account is created or deleted within your ERP, it will be represented as such in Prospect Finder, but not the other way around.
For example, if a prospect is created or deleted in Pepper, its status will be updated in Pepper, but your ERP will remain the same until otherwise corrected there.
Offline Mode
Many reps will spend time in locations without proper access to wifi or cell service. For those occasions, Offline Mode is the perfect solution to get orders in when connectivity is down. To place an account into offline mode, click on the 'more' icon for an account from the account picker and select 'sync to offline'.
Note: Offline Mode is only available for mobile devices.
In Offline mode, sales reps can:
Access Order Guides - Order guides are synced and updated throughout the day when the device is connected to service
Queue Orders: Reps can place orders as usual, which will be saved in a queue. Once back online, reps must manually submit these queued orders via the timer icon on the top right of the navigation bar.
Edit Prices: Dynamic price adjustments can be created if this functionality is enabled for the supplier, supporting accurate pricing in offline environments
Order Guide Generator
Pepper AI has the ability to generate sample order guides for prospects by combining the online restaurant menu with your item catalog. Generated order guides are a great first step towards starting the conversation and making a sale.
How to generate an order guide
Once a prospect has been generated from the prospect finder, simply click the menu icon at the bottom of the prospect overview page. This will take you to the business's online menu (if it exists). Pressing 'generate order guide' will create an order guide you can share with your prospect.
Options for Sharing Order Guides with Prospects
First impressions are crucial in sales, and the ability to present a polished, customized order guide can set the tone for a successful relationship. A well-tailored order guide helps you avoid overwhelming prospects with irrelevant information or price points, allowing you to focus on the value you bring to the table. Distributors have the following options when presenting order guides to prospects:
Promote Specific Items - Certain items can be included with every order guide or pre-populated to the top of the list
Hiding Prices - Prices can be hidden on creation to avoid 'sticker shock' to start the conversation
Export to PDF - DSR's can export their Order Guide to a branded price list PDF including reps' contact information and all relevant items
Generating Order Guides for Existing Customers: Discovered Items
Prospect finder doesn't stop being useful once prospects are converted to customers - ⚡️ Discovered Items ⚡️ allows DSR's to continue to prospect and upsell customers long after they have signed on. Discovered items are items that Pepper AI believe that your customers are ordering to put together their current menu, but aren't currently on their order guide.
To generate discovered items:
Navigate to an existing customer in the Prospect Finder
Generate an order guide in the same way you would for a prospect
Now, any items found that are likely in the menu and are not existing in the order guide today will be placed in a group at the end of the order guide called ⚡️ Discovered Items ⚡️. DSR's can use this group to upsell to customers and see if they can be competitive on pricing and offerings