Why You Should Apply the 80/20 Rule Across All Your Routes to Market
Can consumer goods companies apply the Pareto Principle (or as most of us know it, the 80/20 rule) to all their routes to market, in every part of the world and be successful?In the case of SFA systems – absolutely!
CG companies are finding they can lower the cost of sales from better efficiency and transparency of sales costs, as well as increase revenue from better sales, promotion and merchandising practices, by adopting a standardized technology platform that allows them to harmonize their sales processes and share best practices.
By switching the focus from the differences between markets to the similarities between routes to market and comparing these market routes from a sales perspective, companies are finding that they are fundamentally the same – enabling them to standardize about 80% of the processes.
IDENTIFYING THE 20%
Consider it essential for an SFA system to have built-in standardized industry-best practices. The core requirements in any given industry are universal, allowing almost all process-based differences to be eliminated. You only need for clearly defined ‘genuine differences’ (20%) to be configured.
Differences may include:
• Specific core business processes that differentiate you from your competitors.
• Compliance with unique laws and regulations in your markets.
• Matching software to the devices your sales teams use out in the field.
The benefits of standardizing core industry processes are results in better visibility throughout the enterprise, lower costs and easier to manage.
• Companies are able to measure, compare and benchmark best practices.
• Less people resources required to manage the complexities of a custom solution with different applications by market – software fixes, upgrades and updates are simplified.
• Reduced cost of deployment with a quick roll out.
• Less training and specialization for your IT department supporting the system and your back office and sales teams using it.
FINDING THE RIGHT SOLUTION
It is not about deploying a “one size fits all” setup. The end solution must be balanced with the ability to configure the unique needs and processes of your organization – the ones that deliver on the business objectives and enable all your field teams to work more efficiently, have more information about their customers at their fingertips and be able to sell more effectively.
The right SFA solution will include standardized processes based on industry-best practices and the flexibility to accommodate market driven functionality and other changing company needs in order for you to be better than your competitors.
Accept no less.
StayinFront has been recognized by Gartner as one of the most highly-configurable mobile retail execution and selling solutions to deploy globally. Our 20 years of experience in developing an industry specific sales force automation solution helps your sales team do more, know more and most importantly, sell more.
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