We all know that selling is not easy. Sales Representatives face several challenges every day and they must overcome many obstacles to achieve their objectives. As a Sales Manager, finding the right tools & technology can contribute to make the team’s job easier & provide them with new possibilities, but this choice can sometimes be hard or overwhelming. If you are struggling with it, the guide below will help you get ready in 4 easy steps.
By Lucia Larotonda, Customer Success Manager at mSalesApp
#Sales #Technology #Trends
Let’s picture this situation. You are a sales manager in a company that distributes food & beverages and you have a team of 5 sales representatives that frequently visit groceries stores located in Victoria. Many of your processes are done manually, which creates conflicts when analysing the stocks, and also makes your team spend a long time on administrative tasks. You realise that you need to acquire new technology, but you are struggling to identify which tools will be better for your business.
We know that many companies are at this stage. With so many options in the market, thinking about a change can be a bit overwhelming. Also, usually budgets, resources and time are limited, which makes this decision even harder.
Since no two companies are the same, there is not a correct answer that will apply to all of them. However, we have come up with a quick guide covering the main points to consider before acquiring any new tool, that will guide you in the right direction.
As a summary, the 4 steps would look like this:
Now, let’s dive right into each of them:
1. Identify the pain points
To improve any sales process, the first stage must be to identify the current pain points, such as common mistakes, lack of information or time-wasting tasks.
Some questions to guide you here are:
- Do the sales reps have a way to share information in real-time?
- Which insights from the customers have they got to perform better when selling?
- Can they easily see the current promotions or favourite products that the company wants to push?
- Is there a way to customise or personalise the experience?
2. Analyse your current tools
As part of this improvement process, it is key to analyse the tools that are being used. Have you got an ERP? An Accounting Software? Do they work together? What features are you using? Which functionalities are you not able to fulfil? It is also key to understand which devices your sales reps are using when visiting clients and how they are accessing and managing the information.
3. Picture a better scenario: what do your customers need?
Now it’s the moment of focusing on your clients. The more you understand your customer’s business, the better service you will provide. Take some time to analyse: What do they need? How could you improve your current offer?
Ask yourself as many questions as possible. What if the sales representatives could just go around the store’s shelves and select on their devices the products that need extra stock? What if they could show e-catalogues with the traditional pantry list or special promotions? As you may have already heard, the sky’s the limit.
4. Now you are ready – Analyse & choose the best tools
With all this information in mind, you are ready to make a better choice. List your goals, your requirements and compare them with the existing possibilities. The technology is there and has no limits, so have your ideas clear and find a company that can better fulfil them.
If you are not able to solve some of your issues, do not give up! Keep asking or researching other options in the market. Some companies will be more flexible to customise their products, whereas others won’t have as many options or features available.
Some extra tips here, you can check some always find providers and reviews in sites such as Capterra. Also, some vendors have their own app store where you can find multiple options for your business, like Xero App Store.
mSalesApp, all the information your sales reps need at their fingertips
At mSalesApp, our mission is to be the technology behind our clients’ success. We want to help them sell more and we believe that by having the right tools, anyone can sell.
When developing this app, we went through all of the steps mentioned in this guide, thinking about how we can provide a tool that can help sales managers to get the best results out of their team. As a result, our customers have had significant impacts on their business, reducing time spent on orders, increasing daily sales, and therefore increasing profits.
How? Through mSalesApp, the sales reps can find all the information they need in their tablets or mobiles, and access to features such as:
- Take optimised orders
- Show e-catalogues
- Get customer insights
- Follow-up payments
- Access the Pastry list & Favourite Products
- Offer special promotions & pricing
- Generate & manage leads based on location
User experience is at the heart of our strategy, and we have had great feedback from our clients. If you think that this tool could fit your company, you can easily access a free trial by clicking here.
