Travelling is an essential part of every sales rep’s work day. It is therefore vital for those out in the field to maximise their working time to offset the amount of time spent travelling. Here are four time-wasters frequently encountered by field sales reps and how they could be minimised with the use of a mobile sales app:
Too much paperwork and admin
It goes without saying that the placement of an order, or the process of providing a quote, results in paperwork and admin. This includes laborious tasks such as the writing up of reports, filling in client information and providing physical paper copies. These processes take up time that could have been better spent focusing either on the client or travelling to the next meeting.
A mobile sales app can be a useful tool to avoid wasting time on paperwork. When an order or quote is placed on a mobile sales app, the information is immediately captured and saved. By eliminating the need to write down information by hand, during or after a client meeting, will save both of you time.
The need for physical copies are eliminated with the use of a mobile sales app because real-time information is automatically synced to all linked devices. In the time that it would usually take to fill in written paperwork and take it back to the office, a mobile sales app has already sent the order information directly to head office where processing can begin while the sales rep is still on the road.
Ineffective mapping
Scheduling meetings with clients on the same day who do not live in close proximity to each other is another ineffective way of utilising time. This type of mapping flaw unnecessarily increases your overall travelling time and simultaneously gives you less time to attend meetings throughout the day, a classic time-waster.
GPS check-ins, a built-in feature of many mobile sales apps including Onsight, can help you spot patterns or clusters of clients who live in the same areas. Use this information to schedule meetings according to how close in proximity clients are located to avoid unnecessary detours.
Scheduling hiccups
Overestimating or underestimating how long a meeting will take can be another time-waster. Over-scheduling a meeting by, for example, an hour could cause you to miss out on an opportunity to schedule an additional meeting instead of waiting for the hour to go by. Under-scheduling can lead to a lot of unnecessary rushing which could potentially give the client a negative impression of you for not giving sufficient attention to them.
As you visit regular clients take note of approximately how long meetings usually last. Go to a few meetings with the same client to help you establish the duration of your average meeting time. Schedule future meetings according to this information to reduce time spent on the road, and to help you get more out of your day.
Unproductive communication processes
Being on the road frequently means less time for checking in with head office and sales managers. Business dealings are usually caught up on at the end of a long day or during weekly sales meetings.
But disseminating information on a daily or weekly basis can be a time-waster and the break in communication can lead to issues being missed that should have been addressed when it occurred. However, mobile sales apps have the ability to continuously provide real-time information while field sales reps go from meeting to meeting. As soon as the meeting occurs information such as orders taken, time between orders, areas visited, and quotes, all electronically goes to the relevant people. This way information is immediately recorded and can be analysed without the need for reps to return to the office to relay the information.
Aside from the great time-saving features mentioned above, the Onsight mobile sales app also has other benefits that are sure to boost the productivity of any field sales team.
