Sales rep tracking isn’t just about looking for the whereabouts of your sales team. It’s also about tracking sales performance and finding ways to improve.
Field sales teams must always ensure they cover their bases to stay ahead in today’s competitive landscape. Granted, sales managers can only do so much to get there. When managing sales team members, keeping track of what everybody is doing is often difficult. This is especially true when they’re all out on the field attending to their individual clients. Are they visiting as many clients as they should? More importantly, are they spending quality time with their clients during these visits? Thankfully, sales managers now have sales rep tracking software to help monitor field sales agents.
Sales rep tracking is far more common than you’d expect. According to the Wall Street Journal, around 67.6% of American and Canadian companies that employ 500+ workers use some type of monitoring software. When companies issue tools like smart devices or vehicles, the sales reps using them must sign in regularly to report their location or status.
While sales rep tracking software tracks an agent’s physical whereabouts during field activities, they’re much more than location monitors. When managing sales representatives, it pays to know where their clients are in their respective sales pipelines. Sales managers and executives use the sales rep tracking software to check up on each sales rep’s productivity and performance. This includes checking if sales representatives adhere to their approved field activity itinerary and visit their clients as scheduled.
In addition, the program measures the efficiency of these activities. Are their field sales visits leading prospects to place their initial order? Are existing customers happy with their services and ordering more products at regular rates?
Typically, the sales rep tracking program closely integrates with standard sales applications. They include customer relationship management (CRM), lead management, sales forecasting, and reporting software. Sales managers can remotely gather information about each sales rep’s performance in various activities using the application. This includes essential metrics such as generating leads, closing deals, and generating repeat orders.
Why is sales tracking an important part of your sales strategy?
Efficiency is the name of the game these days. A worker can eventually complete an assigned task with enough time and resources. However, the real world doesn’t have companies and employees that run on unlimited budgets. This is why many businesses often measure employee performance based on output within a given period.
Spending time with clients is an absolute necessity for sales representatives in particular. After all, the health and beauty sector is notorious for fickle consumers who often look for the next trend. In fact, hair care, deodorant, and fragrance products carry the worst customer retention rates. For retailers, this means sticking to a single company or brand won’t necessarily pay off in the long term.
However, merely visiting a client or hanging out at their store doesn’t translate to guaranteed sales. Establishing meaningful relationships with clients means doing more than just paying lip service or showing up unannounced. It means showing genuine interest in solving their problems and addressing their needs. To ensure sales representatives do the small things that enhance their relationships with their clients, sales managers use sales rep tracking software to gather data about each rep’s activities. They can then use this information to provide timely assistance or advice to help nudge the sales journey toward the next stage.
The benefits of sales rep tracking
Sales rep tracking entails much more than knowing where your sales agents are. It enables sales managers to gather more profound insights into their sales team’s behavior out in the field.
In particular, regular sales rep tracking can produce the following benefits, all of which can help increase both revenue and efficiency:
1. Gain insight into profitable marketing channels
By looking into each sales rep’s performance, managers can find which clients seem to complete their sales journey faster and more efficiently than others. Asking your sales agent to share the details on what makes this particular partnership will often lead to them sharing anecdotal stories of how they clicked with this client from day one. While the story might seem interesting, you can possibly use this as the basis to inspire and coach other sales team members.
Instead of relying on anecdotes, use sales rep tracking software to show precisely what makes a business relationship successful. For example, allowing agents to take sales orders during field visits helped Werner-Daniel improve their buying process immensely. At the very least, the new technology eliminated the need for sales reps to leave earlier to encode sales orders back at the office.
In another scenario, sales rep tracking software allowed companies like Healthbridge to measure the efficiency of client visits. Instead of frequently going to clients hoping to get a sales order, the software determined that visits made during well-timed intervals can increase the likelihood of a client making a purchase.
2. Leverage client feedback for improvement
Feedback is critical for jobs that require constant communication. For sales activities, asking for customer feedback and acting on them can prove your team’s seriousness about delivering a consistently excellent customer experience. For example, when customers said that suppliers that manually process orders take too long to deliver, a supplement company decided to automate their sales process. It got clients their orders faster, and the new system reduced the sales team’s administrative tasks. This allowed them to focus on selling more.
In another example, a medical products company experienced difficulty in tracking its sales team throughout the day. Using sales rep tracking software, Medis’s sales manager was able to help the sales team map out a more efficient field schedule. Ultimately, this allowed their sales reps to visit more clients daily. More importantly, this allowed managers to provide the needed direction and coaching when field sales reps experienced difficulties.
3. Improve lead generation processes
A significant part of lead generation is nurturing new leads. Introducing your company and letting them know that you are ready to help solve their issues can put them in a buying mood faster. Of course, that would require scheduling field visits to these leads.
However, sales reps also have existing clients to deal with aside from leads. Sales rep tracking software can help sales managers develop efficient routes and schedules that allow agents to maximize their field trips. Efficient field mapping ensures reps spend more time nurturing leads than driving to their destinations. Additionally, data gathered from sales tracking software can help managers distribute agents more efficiently to cover more areas.
4. Improve scalability and overall efficiency
Today’s businesses aim beyond the bottom line and shoot for authentic growth. However, some companies are more prepared to scale than others. Those caught by surprise will have to scramble as they manage more products and service more clients.
Take the case of Jumbo UK, the British importer of African food products. After three decades of supplying the community’s needs, the company experienced unprecedented growth in 2015. As such, Jumbo had to expand its product lines. With that came an expanded market base and a more extensive customer base. At this point, their paper-based ordering system couldn’t withstand the rigors of the new demand. As a result, Jumbo made the wise decision to switch to a cloud-based ordering system. The shift in strategy worked as Jumbo managed to keep up with the increased demand for its imported products.
A similar situation arose for Zebra Medical, a South African medical devices distributor. With its limited sales force of seven reps and a sales manager, the company had trouble tracking sales activities. Their client base of doctors and medical professionals continuously moved from hospital to hospital during the pandemic. Thankfully, Zebra Medical got help from sales rep tracking software that helped provide updates on how each sales rep was faring. Ultimately, the software allowed them to monitor the sales team and provide the support they needed every time.
5. Use sales rep data for training and development
To provide additional training and development for your sales reps, managers must be able to identify where they need help. Sales rep tracking software can help by providing a performance appraisal of every sales agent’s activity in the field. Using the data, sales managers can pinpoint areas where sales reps can benefit from attending training and development programs.
Clearworld Suppliers, the South African importer of fine Italian food and beverage brands, also benefited from introducing sales rep tracking software to their field reps. Earlier, headquarters had trouble ensuring that sales reps do the three things needed to penetrate a customer’s retail store successfully: visit, take orders, and merchandise. The field reps finally got the hang of it by combining training videos and custom report creation. Now, Clearworld’s headquarters enjoy receiving continuous, complete, and accurate field sales reports.
Meanwhile, Enzymedica, a top enzyme supplier in the US, thought that their sales reps were making the most out of their rounds. However, a quick audit using sales rep tracking software showed that sales reps failed to visit at least a third of their clients. In addition, taking orders required sales reps to email customer care, who would then process the request. Thanks to the findings, Enzymedica implemented a widescale training program that instructed sales reps on how to enter orders, file field activity reports, and update calendars using the sales rep tracking software.
Skynamo is the sales rep tracking software you need
The commonality that ties all of the above examples together is their choice of field sales rep tracking software: Skynamo. It’s cloud-based field sales management software that provides the help sales reps need when they’re out in the field. Skynamo features live order capturing, sales team management, CRM and contact management, and real-time reporting in one helpful app.
Field sales reps won’t have to constantly call the office to process orders or get updated sales information. Meanwhile, sales managers can immediately locate and monitor each rep’s field activities. Plus, Skynamo easily and completely integrates with leading accounting and ERP software.
Learn more about how sales rep tracking software can make life easier on the field. Visit us at Skynamo, and tell us more about your challenges. In return, we’ll happily arrange a free demonstration to show you what Skynamo can do for you and your business growth.
