First Supply is a leading wholesale distributor of HVAC, plumbing, waterworks, industrial pipe, valves, and fittings, serving the upper Midwest with 28 locations. With a history of providing high-quality products and exceptional customer service, First Supply supports contractors, engineers, and businesses with reliable solutions tailored to their industry needs. Their commitment to innovation and efficiency drives them to adopt cutting-edge technology to streamline operations, enhance customer relationships, and improve sales processes.
First Supply
How First Supply Transformed Quoting Efficiency with WPCRM
Business Challenge
First Supply, a leading HVAC, air conditioning, industrial pipe, valves and fittings, waterworks, and plumbing supply distributor with 28 locations in the upper Midwest, faced significant challenges in their quoting process. Managing quotes that ranged from 2 to 450-line items was a time-consuming task. Their existing system required individual updates to line items, slowing down the process and creating inefficiencies. Additionally, generating submittable and O&M books was a labor-intensive task, consuming an entire day of one employee’s time. Their ERP system, described as “slow and clunky,” further hindered their ability to streamline quoting and meet customer demands effectively.
The Solution
To address these challenges, First Supply implemented WPCRM’s quoting module, a powerful solution designed to manage complex quoting workflows with efficiency and precision. Collaborating with WebPresented, the company introduced key enhancements that transformed their quoting process:
Grid View Enhancements: WPCRM introduced a grid view feature, enabling the team to view multiple line items at once, dramatically improving efficiency and speeding up pricing adjustments.
Stock Availability Integration: By displaying stock availability directly in quotes, contractors gained instant visibility into what was available at a given location, increasing order conversions.
Custom Lists and Photos Integration: The team leveraged WPCRM’s capability to create stock lists for faster entry and pull product photos from their e-commerce platform into quotes, with 95% of products now including visuals.
Automated Submittable and O&M Books: WPCRM automated the creation of critical documentation, reducing the manual workload from hours to mere minutes.
Pipeline and Analytics Utilization: First Supply utilized WPCRM’s pipeline functionality to manage quoting and dealer opportunities more effectively. Custom pipelines, customer scorecards, and actionable analytics provided sales teams with clear, actionable insights.
Results
The implementation of WPCRM’s quoting module revolutionized the branch’s operations, driving measurable improvements:
Increased Efficiency: The grid view, stock availability in quotes, and faster data entry streamlined the quoting process, allowing the team to work smarter and faster.
Improved Win Rate: The win percentage for quotes soared from 8% in 2018 (466 quotes) to 34.5% in 2024 (1,937 quotes), a transformative increase.
Profitability Boost: With more efficient quoting and a smarter approach to business, the branch became a top performer within the organization.
Time Savings: Automating the creation of submittable and O&M books freed up hours of employee time, enabling them to focus on higher-value tasks.
As Shawn Lewis noted during his presentation, “Quoting has completely changed the way we do business. WPCRM has made our team faster, smarter, and more effective at meeting our customers’ needs.”
The adoption of WPCRM’s quoting module didn’t just improve efficiency; it redefined how First Supply approached opportunities, delivering measurable results and setting a new standard for operational excellence in the industry.
“Quoting has completely changed the way we do business. WPCRM has made our team faster, smarter, and more effective at meeting our customers’ needs.”
Shawn Lewis
Branch Manager
About WPCRM
WPCRM is a new generation of CRM- designed by salespeople for salespeople. The application is highly intuitive, user-friendly, and fully integrated into distributors’ backend ERP systems. The tool reaches far beyond traditional CRM, to areas such as Quoting, Mobile Order Entry, Business Intelligence (BI), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Predictive Analytics. WPCRM, WebPresented’s Sales Enablement tool, helps organizations and individuals create value using smart technology solutions that marry with business processes.