Is Your Field Sales Team Performing Perfectly or Plummeting?
Area Managers are always expected to do more with less – they often wonder: How can I fit more stores visits in a day? How can I maximize our field force’s performance? How can I generate more sales?The bad news is that they have a lot to consider and really don’t have much time.
The good news is that we have some helpful steps that could make their job a lot easier:
Top Features to Make your Field Sales Team Succeed!
- RAO – Retail Activity Optimization
RAO allows reps to take a more nuanced approach to their territories and store visits. Use POS data to determine which stores reps should visit first to deliver the greatest return on resources. Review POS data before arriving to the stores, to set a plan of what are the most important tasks to perform in the store before you go. - Image Recognition
Gain a 360-degree view of products, as well as competitor companies’ products, to move from 70% to 96% accuracy when conducting a digital audit. Take and upload store photos to be analyzed in minutes, increasing rep productivity and providing management with faster, more accurate data on their distribution, out-of-stocks, Share of Shelf (SOS) and compliance. - Guided Selling
Use branching logic and fact-based data to give sales reps directions for their in-store and selling activities. Launch customised pitches, calculate potential profits, display store rankings and play promotional videos with StayinFront PitchBook®. - Social Capabilities
Increase teamwork and collaboration with instant messaging. This allows managers and field teams to easily share information, competitive activity and best practices to improve performance. - Gamification
Motivate and incentivize sales reps and your field force with gamification which provides reps with drive to keep up with tasks, and not fall behind on their goals. Studies show that incorporating gaming techniques, such as leader boards, can motivate reps to work quicker, stay on task and keep their eye on the goal. - In-flight Analytics
Use integrated analytics and reporting within a system to provide a view of store conditions, field activities and competitive intelligence. Managers and reps can drill down into the data from internal and external sources to identity trends and gain the in-depth knowledge to respond quicker. - Predictive Analytics
Gain Retail Data Insights which can enable you to maximize sales and your return on trade promotion and investments by driving actionable insights from POS data. - Augmented Reality
Enable field teams to stimulate point of sale materials in real size, real store and in real-time. Access visualization of images, such as displays, which will help understand the appearance and fit.
Marie Outred, Systems and Business Insights Manager from Arla Foods UK, implemented some of these steps and shared her opinion.
“Visits per rep have increased. We’ve managed to certainly drive efficiencies in calls, we are spending less time but getting more out of a call.”
To learn more about how to increase field sales team performance, visit our resources page, or contact us today for a demo.
