Among all the sales teams (inside sales, pre-sales, call center, sales development), the field force is the hardest to control – because you are not with them physically. As your field sales reps move from one prospect to the other, you want to know what’s happening with every meeting. You don’t want to wait for the meeting to get over and then call the rep each time and ask “What happened. how did it go”
Field force automation solves this challenge by establishing a real-time communication channel between the off-site sales team and the onsite team handling sales and admin operations.
Web & Mobile: Two Sides of a Coin
An effective field force automation software will work on both the web and mobile devices seamlessly. The mobile application empowers your field staff to get real activity updates from the leads, auto-capture leads from phone calls, geo-tracking, live meeting updates and day planner to name a few.
The mobile app is synced to the web app and the sales manager while sitting in the office can access all the information real time. LeadSquared has the ability to post notes offline too
Field Force Automation = Efficiency
Automation means efficiency. It removes certain manual and repetitive tasks from your field sales process like assigning leads to the relevant sales rep, eliminating paperwork, logging meeting updates and reporting Let’s see how:
Eliminates paperwork (or excel sheets)
Tracking performance on the paper or an excel sheet for that matter is largely unsustainable for any forward-thinking organization. The paper pile keeps increasing with time. An automated system will allow you to add new leads to the system automatically (from phone, chat, website, third party websites). It eliminates typing mistakes and keeps the data organized.
A field force automation app allows a sales rep to add the notes real time instead of coming back to the home/office, visualizing the meeting and writing down the meeting history. They can click pictures of important documents and upload it there and then. A sales manager (sitting in the office) can also review the notes instantly.
Assign leads automatically
When a lead is captured, the software automatically assigns that lead to the relevant salesperson based on certain criteria like zip code, product or proximity. This reduces response time drastically. The sales rep is notified on phone with all the lead details available with just a tap.
Manage without micromanaging
Field force automation software is like a binocular which allows you to see what is happening on the field, from a distance with real-time geo-tracking, spontaneous updates on sales activities with customers or requests for assistance from the manager. It makes it easier to follow up on your sales team without running down their throats. A simple dashboard on the web app provides you with an easy-to-understand report of all sales reps, which includes what they’re currently working on, their location at the moment, the client they’re meeting, the distance they traveled which in turns empowers the sales manager to track and act accordingly.
Keep your team in sync
Sales managers and on-field reps have access to common data in real time which results in strong coordination between the two. The role of the sales manager is not just to spy the salesperson all the time, but to coach them at all the important sales junctures and important sales meetings to help them close deals faster
Conclusion
The objective of any salesperson is to close the deal faster. An automated field sales app creates a bridge between the field and the office. With joint intelligence and seamless integration between the web and mobile, it creates an ecosystem where information is shared, absorbed and acted upon.
