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  • How technology can help track field force employees during Covid-19

    How technology can help track field force employees during Covid-19

    With the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic now slowly receding, many businesses are opening up. It is still not safe to be out there, but many FMCG, e-commerce companies and consumers chose to use delivery apps such as Zomato, Swiggy, and Dunzo during the pandemic. E-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart also delivered goods to consumers on a regular basis. 

    The pandemic has struck fear in people’s hearts as we see more of them are still wary of venturing out of their homes for regular grocery shopping. It is seen that there has been an overall increase in demand for online delivery of groceries and essentials

    This being the scenario, it can seem quite a task to monitor all the employees who are in the field. And this is where sales force automation can help track critical information at a macro level and give you insights so deep; you can put them to use in case the next wave strikes. 

    So what are the paybacks of incorporating field sales reporting in your businesses? Let’s find out. 

    Productivity improves drastically

    It goes without saying that automating specific processes of a business aids in increasing the productivity of employees. Due to Covid-19, it is risky for the physical salesforce to go out in the field. Technology complements the salesforce, making it easier to serve retailers far more efficiently and accurately, thus improving overall sales. 

    By automating tasks via the sales employee tracking app, you, as an employer, are making it easier for your employee to be aware of the day’s tasks that need to be completed and prepare much in advance for it. Automation helps them plan their day and make as much use of the time in hand to increase output – maximize the number of completed tasks on any given day. 

    Take, for example, a delivery agent with Amazon or Flipkart – he is well aware of the tasks that need to be done on a given day. The delivery agent/employee can plan it out way ahead of time in case of any time limitations, especially given the ongoing lockdown measures.

    ·Location tracking benefits – Saves time

    The presence of a location tracking feature in the field sales reporting software enables the manager to assign as many tasks in a specific area, thereby reducing the wastage of time in commuting from one place to another. For example, an grocery delivery agent has to a deliver package at a particular pin code in your city; the system can intuitively assign tasks to deliver packages around the same pin code instead of having to go from one end of the city to another. Thus, you are reducing the unnecessary commute time to deliver parcels. 

    Additionally, the manager is also aware of where the employees/agents are on the field at a given point in time. Processes such as auto-updating completed tasks save time at your employee’s end and all you need to do is look at the software to get timely updates of daily tasks.

    Geo-tracking offered via apps such as Zomato & Swiggy also gives the end customer a feeling of being empowered about what stage their order is currently at, making this entire process transparent. Customers love it when you give them powers like these. (And of course, we know you want to find out how you can automate your business this instant!)

    ·Keeping track of employee targets is so easy!

    Employees/agents needn’t have to go through the rigmarole of updating their completed tasks or making regular updates to ongoing tasks via physical methods or the telephone. Once logged in, the Field Sales Mobile App keeps track of the job being done and those that have been completed. In this way, the manager can keep track of daily/weekly/monthly targets without needing to get a physical or oral update. 

    As and when the employee marks a task as complete, the numbers keep getting updated, and the task list gets cleared one by one. And at any given point in time, the manager is aware of the workload and all the details of pending tasks of each and every employee on the field on the sales employee tracking app

    Identify the best performer purely on numbers

    Now that you know how tasks and targets are monitored on the sales force automation system, you will also realize that this makes it easier for managers to identify the best performers instantly. Best performers can be rewarded for their weekly/monthly/quarterly performance, thereby boosting an employee/field agent’s morale to do even better than before. Some partner programmes such as those of Ola, and Uber offer incentives to their employees/partners. Managers can monitor the performance seamlessly via the sales force automation system. 

    Track customer complaints by way of return pickup

    E-commerce platforms such as Myntra and Amazon have a return pickup option. Tracking this on the sales employee tracking app can also give the platforms a chance to interact with the customer directly and pick up any kind of feedback – in person. Sometimes this type of feedback may not be translatable to words online, so this type of feedback retrieval does help improve operations in many ways. 

    In this way, you not only get valuable data about customers and their preferences, but you can also tailor the system to suit the needs of the customers. You are, therefore, empowered with not only acquiring a user base but this gives you additional ammo to create plans to retain the existing customer base. 

    Data obtained is priceless

    The benefits of field sales reporting are not just these, there are immense details you can draw from these reports. With this invaluable data, you can work on increasing your customer base and retaining the existing ones, making them keep coming back to use your product. Strike several birds with just one stone and that is the sales employee tracking app. Data as we all know can help us in ways more than we can imagine, so let your imagination soar and make the best of it during this pandemic and after. 

    As we slowly take steps into a world after the COVID-19 pandemic, it becomes progressively more apparent that technology is not just vital to surviving. It is something to ponder, especially when organizations want to move from the current survival mode to a model of success. 

    Are you looking for such a system that can benefit your business through automation? Get in touch with Happisales to maximize your opportunities in the ‘pandemic season’!

  • How to improve your selling through salesforce automation amidst Covid – 19

    How to improve your selling through salesforce automation amidst Covid – 19

    [vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Ever since Covid -19 announced itself, the world as we knew it has never been the same. With ample time passing by, and with lockdown restrictions imposed, people and businesses alike have taken to a new way of life, not only surviving but have also shown signs of prevalence in these dark times. How did they do it? How did businesses adapt to a new world and improve selling through Field Force Automation Tool?   

    Impact of COVID 19 

    Trade and Commerce came to a standstill with counties around the world shutting down their borders. Businesses were shut down to bare bones creating shockwaves disrupting the supply chains. As per a statement issued by Nomura India Business Resumption Index, the economic activity fell from 82.9 to 44.7 and the nation saw a spike in unemployment rates, rising from 6.7% to 26%, all in a matter of 21 days! Close to 140 million people in the working class fell victim to job cuts or had taken salary cuts due to the pandemic. Close to 47% of the businesses were shut down costing the country almost 32,000crores in loss with results showing a 40% dip in the country’s GDP when compared to the last year.

    Why is reinventing your sales force important 

    Most of the companies that were at the heart of the crisis were predominantly companies that thrived on sales. With their sales force completely taken down of its functionality, businesses were unable to gather leads and convert prospects into acquisitions. But as a wise quote was once foretold – Life always finds its way!. As the pandemic restrictions loosened up, organisations found themselves adapting to new ways, innovating ideas to keep themselves not only afloat but also thrive in these hard times. Just as companies found their sales force ineffective during the lockdown, the optimistic few found ways to evolve their field sales into something more different, in ways that were in need of the hour. Those who were successful found their footing once again and had relatively better numbers on their financials to put a big smile on their face.

    Ways to keep your sales team upbeat

    A case of “searching for the keys to an open door”. The success mantra is not very complex or something that has been invented. It is an instance of refinding the simple things that were often ignored or assumed a non-aggressive strategy for. Here are the five ways to keep your field sales team at their optimal best in these times. 

    Sales Force Automation

    There has been a paradigm shift in the way companies have taken to their field sales activities. field force automation has already been adhered to by several businesses even before Covid 19. The ability to guide your sales force with such a mobile sales app has been proven to be time effective and also, helps the crew to stay focused without having to scatter around all over the place. Planning and managing an entire crew remotely through a remote and field staff management app is a prime way to keep your people attend to their sales responsibilities even while working from home.

    Streamlining the Sales Pipeline

    One of the biggest challenges your field sales force faces is the bottleneck in the pipeline. The crew would have more than the optimal number of objectives to work on every day and that would only halter their efficiency. Understanding the priorities, requirements and streamlining the tasks of the day through an integrated sales tracking software would help both the management and the sales team to manage their work efficiently and securely. This would help them reduce time on the field while still having a good turnaround time on their goals!

    Keeping tabs on Data-based sales objectives

    Businesses have learnt to function remotely, connecting through the internet, gathering updates and assigning tasks at a push of a button. The ability to keep track of data through field sales app have proven beneficial to push beyond new horizons of inter-departmental functionality. Data collected field assist app such as location of the customer and the location of the employee would help delegate work to the team better. For instance, it would only be right to assign a task on 6th Cross Street to Tom from 5th Cross Street rather than to assign it to Harry from 18th Cross Street. Such details help to manage resources efficiently and simmer downtime constraints to a maximum possible extent.

    Adapt to your ever-changing customer needs

    Customers are every business’s primary importance. The very soul of a successful business is to tend to its customer’s needs and keep them at comfort at all times. A happy customer is a sales agent by his right. Having a check on your customers through a field sales app would not only help manage them better but also help serve them in better ways. It may not be an tiresome task, but something as simple as answering their queries, responding to their emails on the most minuscule of things would go a long way in generating a referral lead that might prove to be rich dividends for your time spent. 

    Look for new opportunities arising in these times

    The final piece of the puzzle – Always be on the lookout for opportunities. The key to success (not only for a business entity) is to be conscious of the possibilities of an opportunity lying in every nook and corner of any given situation. Things may look grim, but the seeds sown today are the fruit-bearing trees of tomorrow. Give a shot at everything that matches the services provided by you. It may be something you and your field sales team would probably know, but just thought a friendly reminder would help you rekindle your thoughts again!.

    A Way Forward – Future of sales

     As per reports about 39% of the businesses (mostly small scale) have no intention in going back to old ways of functionality having found the new way forward. 

    If you had asked someone prior to 2019, there would have been no one who would have told you that the world was going to change the way it has today.  Businesses would have been working towards their 5 year plans as usual treating the upcoming years just as the same as any other year. But to have the ability to adapt to such dire situations through Sales Employee Tracking App and to overcome it is a symbol of flexibility, an evolution of sorts.

    If you are looking to jump on the bandwagon before it’s too late, try visiting Happisales –  A solution to all your sales force automation needs![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

  • Enterprise Field Sales Automation: Top Challenges and Solution

    Enterprise Field Sales Automation: Top Challenges and Solution

    Be it any enterprise, manufacturing, construction or logistics, sales plays a critical role in its growth. When I say sales it includes both the primary and secondary sales. Managing sales activities manually involves a lot of time and money. Especially, the field sales executives who are mainly outside for customer visits face the wrath of manual data updates. 

    The below example would help you better connect with challenges faced by the entire sales team. 

    Consider X as a sales rep and Y as the sales manager. The former visits customers on a daily basis and have to report the data at the end of the day to Y. 

    Two scenarios evolve:

    1. X having challenges in updating the customer visit data, fuel charge, additional information to Y at the end of the day. He has to capture and save all the above-stated data manually. This is a backbreaking process and eats up most of his time.
    2. The sales manager has no clue about the customer visits of X and got to believe what was targeted is achieved. Also, updating X’s expense details and other customer-related data to the backend is strenuous.

    Most sales team faces these challenges and look for solutions to negotiate them. A simple yet effective solution to transform the way the sales teamwork is by investing in field service management software

    There is a misconception in the business landscape that field sales tracking solutions are exclusively developed to track the field salespersons and their activities. It is wrong! 

    SEE ALSO: “5 Reasons Why Field Sales Automation Is Important”

    The ultimate aim of the workforce automation solution is to simplify the tasks of both the field sales and managers, executives involved in the process. 

    With an automated solution, the enterprise can accelerate the overall sales cycles and achieve improved RoI, growth. 

    Generally, Field Force Automation Solution are mobile apps. 

    Here are some of the ways an automation solution will help an enterprise. 

    For field sales reps

    • Update lead information instantly and from anywhere, even during offline
    • Prevent data errors using easy-to-use custom fields with validations 
    • Add notes on specific client feedback or competitor insights 
    • Update end of the day reports on-the-go without any discomfort

    For managers

    • Track attendance, leave & expense management on mobile/tablet, save time and money.
    • Optimize field sales plans for better customer experience, sales cycle
    • Real-time data on staff availability, tasks, and efficiency through single Dashboard

    For CEOs

    • Data-driven analytics for decision making on business improvements.
    • Centralized dashboard for executives to view the complete sales data at one place
    • Improved business efficiency and RoI

    With such a system in place, improving the overall efficiency of the sales process becomes absolutely seamless and easier. 

    Shared below are some of the common features of a field sales mobile app

    • Check-in; check out
    • Expense tracker
    • EoD report submit
    • Leave/permission/on duty select
    • customer profile
    • Report export
    • Live tracking
    • Daily reports
    • Dashboards
    • To-dos

    Top brands have already started to leverage field force automation solutions to improve their operations. 

    Give your enterprise sales a boost with advanced automation solutions today and look out for accelerated productivity.

    Your competitors are already there, are you? 

    Make the sales process a win-win for both your managers and executives using a field force automation app. 

    Don’t know how to get started? Let us help. Get started today.