Run a business? Worried about how your staff is working and bringing in the sales? Still using the “old world” methods to track progress of your staff? We are in the 21st century and AI has crept into all our lives. Why not have it incorporated into your business and solve the problems you are facing!
Welcome to the concept of Field Force Automation – sometimes this is also referred to as Field Service Management or Field Sales Tracking. This is a method to make the best use of information and processes available. Field force automation aids businesses in field sales tracking by establishing real-time communication between both sales teams working off-site as well as onsite.
Sales force automation software has countless benefits. Some of them include:
- Track your on-field staff with their live location
- Manage customers efficiently
- Increased output
- Ability to forecast sales with past analytics
- Timely and precise reports
- Versatile software
- Can be integrated into your current ERP system
- Customisable to suit your business needs
- Data can be accessed as a mobile sales app on any of your devices
How is Field Force Automation revolutionizing different industries?
Some of the industries which need sales people on the ground include pharmaceuticals, FMCG, banking and insurance as well as manufacturing. In all these industries, marketers need to do something akin to door-to-door selling. We have seen medical representatives, for instance, at clinics and hospitals. For a manager to supervise this salesperson is a task. Automation enables a lot of such processes to be handled very easily.
To keep track of 1000s of such employees at the click of a button on an app is surely the easiest thing to do. Compare this with updations and reports handed over by employees about their targets and sales – all these are just needless paperwork and decrease employee productivity.
We can also look at client management, (in the case of the pharma industry, it is doctors or hospitals). Inventory, bills, orders etc can all be made available in the same software. So all you need to do is just gaze over the software to get an idea of what your business is looking like. With reports and analytics, you can forecast sales for the upcoming quarter/financial year and get an idea how much your targets can be. You can also be aware of the expenses and see where your attention is needed, thereby giving you a better control of your resources.
In industries like FMCG, processes can be streamlined with technology and automation thus reducing expenditure and tracking shipments and deliveries. Automation can help logistics in a big way. This also applies to the banking and insurance industry – employees to be managed as well as transactions, sign ups, sale of products, billing – all these can be taken care of with one single system.
What are the 4 important trends that will change the future of Field Force Automation
- AI and IoT is the future
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) are the two most advanced technologies that will revolutionise the sales force automation in the foreseeable future. Aided by innovative technology, businesses can drastically improve their field operations and employee productivity successfully. As mentioned in the benefits section above, predicting sales forecast with the data available will help you make better decisions and improve the overall functioning of the business.
With AI in the picture, businesses can effectively plan their sales strategies and better their productivity effectively. Businesses can make better decisions and forecast predictions pretty accurately. Time-consuming processes are now being ditched and the entire world is moving towards automation. The time saved by automating processes can be used to get more business done.
Wearable IoTs are the in thing right now. There’s an app for almost everything under the sun, so why not field sales tracking too? A mobile sales app is just the thing you need. Statistics indicate that by the year 2025, at least 75 billion IoT devices will be in use. Our reliance on AI and IoT devices will increase exponentially mainly because of their time-saving and hassle-free nature.
2. Blockchain technology
Blockchain technology is yet another big trend happening in the field force automation arena whereby integrating this technology into smart devices, IoT actually helps payment authentication systems to work well within organizations. We imagine blockchain to be only connected with cryptocurrency but there is more that can be done with this technology than just crypto. Experts suggest blockchain technology can be made use of in different industries including field sales tracking/field force automation. Integration of blockchain technology with smart devices and IOT can be used to strengthen and authenticate the payment systems.
3. Customer happiness:
With detailed analytics about sales and revenue, businesses will be able to forecast better and also change their strategy to acquire more users to their base. Analytics can help understand user/customer behaviour and when the sales personnel are armed with this information, they can bend and stretch their method of acquiring customers. User acquisition is one aspect, with the analytics you can also work towards keeping customers happy – this can either be addressing customer queries or complaints on a timely basis, improving the product/business to suit the customers’ needs and providing them value is what ultimately retains a customer.
Using the power of AI and devices, especially a mobile sales app, you can notify your customers about new services, products, and any such notification either via SMS or push messages or emails. In this fashion, you as a business are keeping your customer informed of any changes, upgrades, alerts etc. This is where Happisales, a field sales tracking tool comes into the picture. The state-of-the-art software gives you a competitive edge over other similar applications.
4. Data:
In the current scenario, personalization is the mantra that will attract customers to your business. Access to data is essential and real-time data via technology makes things transparent for both customer and the business. There can be no fudging of real-time data. Analytics can aid in making precise decisions be it with regard to tweaking your product to suit the end customer or whether it is related to marketing the business/product. Embracing modern technologies will only aid businesses to do more for less. Data is the wealth that business can use to their advantage to do better at sales or providing services.
5. Paperless processes:
When processes are moved to AI and IoT technology, automatically the paperwork disappears to a large extent. Now with everything going digital, it is easier to move sales force automation to a digital platform. With synced devices, data can be accessed at any place and at any time. Real-time tracking and updations on the system are a reality. Don’t we all love it when things are paperless? All that is needed is a mobile sales application at the very least!
So what should you do now!
It has been predicted by experts that technological revolutions in AI will only improve the system further and increase productivity of your staff, improved customer satisfaction and ultimately greater customer retention. Wondering where or who you should approach to get all this under one umbrella? Get your business digital with Field Sales Tracking and watch your business zoom!