“Why Didn’t I Know This Before?” — Story Of A Field Sales Agent

midst the hustle and bustle of the city traffic, Jamie makes his way to the stores that he has to visit today, as part of his BEAT plan.

Here is how the conversation goes with one of the retailers he visits-

Jamie — “Hey, this is a new product from the company. How many units should I book for you?”

Retailer — “Hey Jamie, none right now. I am not sure about it. Will check back with you on this later. Alright?”

Jamie (not knowing what to say) — “Alright, sure.”

The traffic situation improved post the pandemic, but Jamie’s struggles only got worse.

Sales representatives are not just the face of the organization; for many they represent the brains of the organization. ‘What they know’ and ‘what they don’t know’ makes a lot of difference to their sales performance and to the client’s growth.

That’s why we are bringing Data Democratization again in focus with this piece. The fact that data should reach those who need to use it on the job, without any hassles or delays is not a surprise for anyone. Many businesses are wary about data being stuck in the hands of a few, especially in a hybrid work set up.

But again, intent must lead to intelligent actions.

Jamie in the above story is great at the aesthetic part of the job — building relationships, understanding customer behaviour etc., but when it comes to addressing their concerns, he is practically tongue tied.

What changes?

‘He doesn’t know.’

‘They don’t know.’

‘They just don’t know what to say.’

Sales representatives simply don’t have access to real-time, ‘relevant’ data and insights.’

And this is not a quick fix problem.

Many organizations have put tremendous efforts and investments towards enabling field agents with applications that help them with route planning and avoiding overlapping routes through SaaS platforms.

But there is still a huge lag in the way sales agents engage with the clients. And that’s not for their inability to hold a conversation. It’s because of their struggle in driving meaningful conversations for the lack of ‘meaningful insights’.

A Beat Plan is a weekly or monthly route plan for sales and marketing professionals. It chalks out their on-the- field activity w.r.t. which stores they must visit during the day. This plan is made in alignment with the company’s priorities. It enables the field sales professionals to handle stock outages, order collection, visual merchandising, competitor analysis, product feedback etc.

Challenges faced by Sales Representatives on the field (What do they not know?)

To read the full article, visit https://beagleanalytics.ai/why-didnt-i-know-this-before-story-of-a-field-sales-agent/