3 Common Problems a Sales Route Planner Can Solve

Combining your CRM software with a sales route planner makes perfect sense. Wholesalers and CPG brands operating a field sales team could benefit from more efficient route planning and making prioritized schedules according to the needs of both their organization and their customers. However, without efficient sales route planning, an organization can run into a number of issues that can hamper their sales efforts. 

Your field reps are not happy

If you do not give your sales reps the means to optimize their routes, they’ll miss out on crucial meetings, be late with their deliveries, and fall behind schedule, making them feel demotivated. Further, it will impact their compensation as field sales staff salaries are often connected to performance. 

If you’d like to improve the morale of your field sales rep, you need to provide them with the best tools needed to perform their jobs. A sales route planner is one of the most important tools in your arsenal to increase both happiness and efficiency. Failing to implement this tool will make sales reps feel helpless to answer customer concerns when they are with them face-to-face. 

Your customers are showing their disappointment 

Customer satisfaction is the number one metric tracked by every brand for obvious reasons. What happens if things go wrong? What if revenue declines and your customers are no longer making repeat orders? These issues could indicate your customers are not paid enough mind  and are ordering through your competitors. 

A sales route planner will help you arrange regular routes and plan schedules so you can meet them at the right time to handle their ongoing concerns and offer that much needed personal touch to enhance satisfaction and lessen customer churn. 

A well-planned route does not just indicate you visit more of your customers on a more frequent basis, but it also suggests you meet the ideal customers at the right time.

Your sales reps are not meeting their targets

Do you notice your sales team keeps missing their weekly and monthly targets? If this is the case, it is possible that your business is currently taking a hit.

Taking advantage of a sales route planner allows sales reps and managers to efficiently plan their daily routes on a digital map. That guarantees they schedule the most relevant and important meetings first. That could also indicate they focus on visiting locations they haven’t visited for a while or with fewer order volumes. This also helps by holding sales reps more accountable to the appointments they are meant to go to, even if the commision rates may not be as high for them. 

Irrespective of the business rationale, a sales route planner offers you the necessary tools to prioritize every customer visit. Consider whether your reps have the data they need to up-sell out in the field. Ask yourself whether you have given them the ability to access the product details they need immediately and easily, and whether they are aware of any shipping issues or delays that may impact their sales activity.  

When using a sales route planning app, your sales reps will be in the best position to optimize their day while in the field, saving money and time. You can also  track your sales team when they’re out on the field to understand exactly what they are accomplishing each day. As such, each sales activity  they perform can be time-stamped and geo-tagged, putting you in more control.