The landscape for field sales has evolved; selling a product is a talent. An old manager of mine once said to me, “There’s two key things when it comes to selling. One, being approachable and gain a customer’s trust is first and, secondly, know your stuff!”
Essentially, whilst this is pretty much bob on, I think we all know that there’s more to it – especially if you’re responsible for remote selling a product.
“Knowing your stuff” sounds simple enough but when you’re faced with a catalogue of products and services, that’s really not quite as simple as it sounds. Competition is fierce, and the way field sales are conducted have adapted along the way to accommodate customer needs and retainment.
Field sales technology has been gaining traction globally as businesses continuously seek to enhance their sales operations and improve efficiency. Many companies across various industries have recognised the benefits of using technology to streamline and strengthen their field sales processes. In the UK, a significant number of companies are utilising field sales technology to some degree, notably in sectors such as consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, technology, industrial equipment, hospitality and construction.
Mobile sales tech-falls
Maybe you don’t have a mobile sales team deployed but it’s on your agenda, or maybe you do but you’ve got issues with your current system. Let’s cover some of the potential pitfalls in getting your sales team technically equipped to go out in the field successfully.
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Mobile device management (MDM). Big or small, it can be complex managing a fleet of mobile devices. Ensuring access to business applications, data and communication while maintaining control over the devices is only doable if you have an effective MDM solution.
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Connectivity and Network Infrastructure. Remote sales require reliable network connectivity in order to perform their magic! They rely on being able to access real-time information, update customer data, and process transactions whilst on the go. Poor connectivity, weak signal strength or compatibility issues with different mobile networks or Wi-Fi environments are all common denominators that can hinder your field sales team. Establishing a robust and resilient network infrastructure to support your sales operation is crucial.
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Seamless integration with your CRM and backend systems is essential. The mobile applications your field sales team will need have to integrate into your CRM so that their data synchronises and flows accurately to allow for real-time updates, avoid data duplication or loss as well as providing a consistent user experience across the different platforms, which can be problematic during integration.
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Data security and privacy. Field salespeople have responsibilities to handle sensitive customer data and confidential customer business information whilst on the move and protecting this from unauthorised access, loss or theft is a critical concern. To mitigate these serious security risks, consider implementing secure data transmission encryption and authentication measures as well as remote device wiping regularly.
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User training and support. In order to ensure your field sales team are always performing at their best, it’s imperative to offer ongoing training and technical support to ensure effective utilisation of your mobile applications, CRM systems and other IT tools. Training on their functionality as well as their security measures will enhance user productivity and end user satisfaction. (Don’t forget, your business is ever changing and so your field sales technology needs to be agile to accommodate those changes).
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Application development and maintenance is challenging; you’ve got consider the specific needs of your field sales reps in order to develop and maintain them going forward. To do so requires expertise in mobile app development, user experience design, backend integration and compatibility with different platforms (iOS and Android, for example). Maintenance and updates need to be timely for things like bug fixes and feature enhancements to meet continuous evolving business requirements.
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Data analytics and reporting. Capturing and analysing data that your field sales team generate provides valuable insights for decision making and performance evaluation. However, integrating this data from your field sales technology, CRMs and other additional sources to generate meaningful, accurate reports and analytics is complex. Being able to ensure data accuracy, integrity and actually providing actionable insights pose IT challenges. That’s why having a scalable ERP with a field sales technology vertical solution that integrates is imperative to ensuring accurate reporting and data analytics.
There’s a lot to bear in mind, but nevertheless addressing these challenges all form part of a requirement for a wider, comprehensive IT strategy that encompasses all the above. Collaboration between your IT provider and sales department is vital in order to truly understand and fulfil the specific requirements of your field sales team for things to run smoothly.
Who can benefit?
Next let’s have a quick round-up as to what industries can benefit from having a tech-enabled field sales operation.
Retail & Consumer companies that distribute goods, whatever they may be, can gain access to inventory data to book orders, promote products, update customer information and get real-time information for customers whilst off-site.
Pharmaceutical and Healthcare product providers that have field sales teams to interact with healthcare professionals, clinics, hospitals and pharmacies to deliver presentations, collect feedback and manage orders. Being able to have compliance tracking and the ability to report adverse events at the touch of a button adds additional significant value.
Financial Services businesses such as banks or insurance companies utilising field sales technology can undertake client prospecting, customer onboarding, account management as well as cross-selling effectively. Its particularly important for things like performing financial calculations and submitting applications securely due to the nature of these businesses’ activities.
Telecommunications companies with a field sales operations team can see real value in having the right technology to support off-site customer acquisitions, checking network coverage, presenting service packages, and activating services whilst interacting directly with customers.
Hospitality and Leisure service providers can facilitate secure event bookings remotely, negotiate contracts, have access to menus and accurate pricing information and availability as well as offering personalised recommendations to customers.
Construction and building materials suppliers can provide accurate product information to architects or on a site visit. Having the right field sales technology solution provides accurate estimates for projects and costs for materials as well as on-site quotes.
Real estate and property agents can leverage field sales technology to showcase property listings, track client preferences, manage contracts, and streamline the sales process.
Automobile dealerships can utilise field sales technology to assist sales representatives in managing inventory, generating quotes, and handling customer inquiries during the sales process.
Energy and Utilities companies using field sales technology solutions can benefit from enabling their sales teams to effectively communicate and engage with customers, manage contracts, and provide energy efficiency solutions.
Van sales technology
Being more specific now, let’s look at on-the-spot selling in the context of van-based sales operations. Implementing a van technology sales solution boasts a whole host of benefits that can remove the barriers and optimise your sales team’s productivity immensely!
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Van sales technology relies on mobile sales software that runs on portable devices (as we mentioned at the very beginning) such as tablets, handsets and smartphones. The software provides sales reps with a digital platform to manage and execute sales activities efficiently.
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Inventory management is available to take, track and update orders in real-time as well as tracking stock levels at the click of a button.
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Order processing is streamlined as it eliminates the need for pesky paperwork (an easy eco-friendly win!), generates invoices, process payments on-the-spot on-site and automatically update inventory records.
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Integration to your CRM allows your remote sales team to access customer information on the move, see purchase history and order preferences to personalise customer interaction which results in optimal customer experience.
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Route optimisation features allow for daily route planning to efficiently reduce travel time and optimise each client visit.
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Reporting and analytics tools provide clear monitoring for each of your team’s performance, track key metrics and gain meaningful insight into customer behaviour – which gives you the accurate information to make data-driven business decisions to improve sales strategies.
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ERP integration ensures seamless data flow and synchronisation which means that everything runs in sync with your back-end system and gives your entire business operations full transparency and maximises overall results.
At Innov8, we created our own solution, Innvan, which is a flexible yet structured mobile sales/route accounting solution. It was designed to grow our customers business and is capable of running entirely independently or integrated with your choice of ERP application (integration to Sage software available as standard). Innvan also utilises the latest handset technology to give you ultimate remote stock control. From small start-up businesses to large fleets of field sales operatives, the solution will display your catalogue of products, take customer orders, accommodate pricing promotions, show accurate stock levels and much more. All in all, Innvan can promote cost savings, improved efficiency, flexibility and customer experience…which help your team to succeed time and time again!
If you’re looking to have a chat to understand how Innvan might work for your remote sales operation, want to understand how getting a field sales operation might benefit your business or are just having a bad case of tech-ache – get in touch, we’d love to chat!