External factors that shape the economy aren’t under your control. Skynamo’s all-in-one field sales platform helps sales teams manage what they can control in a cost-effective manner.
The effects of a global business slowdown are evident around us and affecting most of our businesses at the moment. We’ve previously highlighted what sets industry leaders apart in the new normal business environment and what sales teams are doing to build trust in times of uncertainty. When we become too obsessed with ‘doing better’ or ‘increasing sales’, we often overlook creative ways to manage daily business operations in a cost-effective manner.
Skynamo’s all-in-1 field sales platform helps outside sales teams to cut daily operational costs while they focus on visiting customers and hitting sales targets. Skynamo users share a few ways in which the sales platform frees them up to be more productive, while cutting business costs in the process:
Better route planning
Skynamo’s GPS feature not only removes manual travel logging from sales teams’ daily tasks, but helps them plan their routes better. Your customer database could be filtered according to location and visit frequency, helping you to spend less time on the road and more talking to customers.
Maps provide a geographical perspective on customer data and historic visiting trends, allowing sales managers and teams to draw up route schedules accordingly.
“Skynamo’s GPS feature helped us identify bad habits in route planning. Our sales reps are now better equipped to take the more economical route between customers.”
– Steve Cloete, Atlas Oil sales manager (Read full case study here)
“Not needing to come into the office every day means that reps avoid being on the road when traffic is congested or choose to visit outlying customers during inner city peak-time traffic instead.”
‒ Lisa Joao Campbell, Interstat Regional Sales Manager (Read full case study here)
Fewer product returns
Product returns have a very costly and often totally unnecessary impact on businesses. One recent study found that one in three products purchased online will be returned, while another study suggests that up to 95% of returned goods had nothing wrong with them.
Something as simple as providing your customers with clear, updated product information and automating the order process can reduce product returns and save the time spent on handling these returns.
“Improved communication between sales managers, reps and our office-based admin team means virtually no incorrect orders. Skynamo’s digital product catalogue allows reps and customers to check stock availability and confirm order details together. This dealt with the problem of order errors and unnecessary product returns.”
‒ Kerry Yates, Permoseal sales manager
“Skynamo eliminated issues around delayed order processing. Sales representatives can now instantly push orders through, straight from the field. Within a month of using Skynamo the company started to see positive results.”
‒ John Manolakis, APS Studex managing director (Read full case study here)
Less admin, more time
Admin is unavoidable. It’s crucial to sales success. And yet, sales teams know that it’s done at a cost. Time spent on admin is consistently identified by sales teams as a major obstacle to efficiency, while time spent on admin could be better used in other ways.
“Our sales teams no longer deal with paper or transcribing data to Excel and Word before orders can be placed. Digitization with Skynamo means admin efforts are spent where they count. At least three to four hours that used to be spent on admin can now be applied elsewhere.”
‒ Kerry Yates, Permoseal sales manager
“We realised that while our reps are great at selling, some struggle with admin. We were surprised to discover how much our reps have embraced the admin side of their jobs since using Skynamo. It has become less time-consuming and aids their sales performance.”
‒ Mike Giltrow, BED Holdings CEO (Read full case study here)
“I spend one to two hours less on admin per day. It makes admin so much easier and less time-consuming for us. Because reports are produced quicker, I’m now using all that time I used to spend on reports on non-admin activities.”
‒ Brandon Rix, Interstat sales representative (Read full case study here)
Clearer communication, fewer meetings, greater productivity
How many hours does your team spend on sales meetings each week? Do those hours justify what your business gains from it? Bad communication and time spent in and getting to meetings bring with them many unintended and unnecessary costs.
Sales teams who can find ways of communicating more clearly are able to spend less time together, and more time with prospects and customers. When everyone is on the same page, productivity increases, while costs related to fuel, product returns and unnecessary admin are all reduced.
“Skynamo allows reps to only go into the office once a week to touch base with management, compared to 10 times a week previously, when they needed to go in at the start and at the end of every day. Live digital reporting allows sales managers to discuss matters of major importance as they happen – neither they nor their sales teams need to be at the office. These discussions are now a constant, everyday thing and no longer a build-up to the next sales meeting.”
‒ Lisa Joao Campbell, Interstat Regional Sales Manager (Read full case study here)
“Reps who live further away and don’t come to the office on a regular basis are now as informed as those enjoying the luxury of visiting the office and meeting with managers more regularly. All reps have access to relevant information and all managers are updated on their reps’ activities and results on a regular basis.”
‒ Adele Norman, SafeTop Retail General Manager (Read full case study here)
Make sure your outside sales team adopt practices and tools that help them increase productivity while cutting costs during economic downturns.
