Manufacturers' sales reps, Hoffman & Hoffman, goes digital to give customers more product information, faster 

Hoffman & Hoffman is dedicated to helping its customers make good decisions when it comes to selecting and applying heating, ventilating, air conditioning, filtration, and direct digital controls systems. That's a big reason why one division after another at this large North Carolina-based company is turning to Catalog Builder software for producing their product catalogs.

Catalog Builder gives us the ability to produce monthly or mini catalogs so our customers have access to complete, up-to-date product information," explains the Controls Components Division Manager, David Witherspoon.

Seeking an easier way
Witherspoon was looking for an easier way to compile his division's printed catalogs when he discovered Catalog Builder.

Witherspoon explained, "We used to produce catalogs using a spreadsheet application. That was just too labor-intensive, so we didn't have the capacity to produce catalogs with any frequency." What's more, they couldn't combine all their different manufacturer's lines into one catalog.

"Now with Catalog Builder, we can," states Witherspoon. "That's a convenience to our customers and shows better that we are a one-stop shop."

Keeping it on paper
Catalog Builder is the uniquely affordable digital cataloging software for building, designing, and maintaining print, CD-ROM, PDF, e-mail, and e-commerce catalogs in-house.

"I see some companies are moving away from hard copy catalogs," Witherspoon states, "but that's a mistake. Even with all the advancements in e-commerce and interactive CDs, people still like to have a hard copy catalog to look through. Paper catalogs are still great sales tool." Catalog Builder makes it possible for Witherspoon's group to continue producing paper catalogs, but gives them the option of adding other mediums including interactive CD and e-commerce catalogs. No matter what formats they choose and how many product lines they offer, they'll only need to maintain one database.

And because it's so simple to make changes and generate new catalogs-right down to the automatically generated table of contents-Witherspoon says they'll be able to keep their customers better informed. "Catalog Builder gives us a leg up on the competition by giving us the capability to get our info out the door faster," he explains.

Looking professional
Another big change for Witherspoon's catalog will be in the way it looks. "We can easily import and format graphics into the Catalog Builder database, so now our catalogs will include product pictures and look much more professional," he explains.

Another Hoffman & Hoffman division, the Warehouse, also produces a print catalog. Unlike the Controls Components Division, however, the Warehouse has always outsourced the design and production of its catalogs, forking out thousands of dollars annually. They, along with the parts division, are the other two divisions that have watched Witherspoon's progress with Catalog Builder and decided to follow his lead.

Witherspoon says, "Now that we have Catalog Builder I feel very strongly that my division will never need to worry about an extremely large cash outlay for catalog production." Computer Pundits Corporation is revolutionizing the business to business cataloging industry and saving companies around the world thousands and even hundreds of thousands of dollars.