A typical sales oriented large organization may be the perfect case for a Sales Force Management App. And if they have a robust IT-system, CRM, then an App is a natural extension for Sales Force Automation. But many conventional distributors or classic sales companies do not necessarily have CRM applications. They may have a home grown legacy system to manage sales, clients and order management or even use simple tabulation of such data.

So what happens if you are a classic national or a regional sales distributor, who doesn’t have the sales automation? Can an App be relevant? Does it make sense for a small team of 30, 40 or 100 sales force?

Imagine that your sales teams are out in the field. They are at best assisted by inside sales which does prospecting and identification of potential clients. Each sales person makes their own sales call plans, based on the prospects identified in his or her area. They may additionally get leads either during visits, or cross references from existing clients. All this information is usually only captured once they are back in their offices in electronic tabulations and Managers filter this information to assess performance.

As the business world embraces mobile Apps for route planning and to tracking travel expenses, a Sales Force Management App is an inevitable business tool. It eliminates the need to carry paper notes, look up prospects through printed lists, view files of client history records and target sheets, etc. The typical challenges for sales force management are:

1. Assigning sales leads to specific sales team members
2. Charting sales calls for a day / week / moth (for account maintenance)
3. Capturing sales call data – prospect, offer, negotiation, contract and no potential
4. Competitive landscape – which of the customers use your competitors, volumes, etc.
5. Parallel leads – references, neighboring businesses, win from competition
6. Maintaining client history – sales record, volumes, visit history, complaints, etc.
7. Management overview – sales productivity, KPI measurement, other reporting
8. Travel Management – record travel expenses.

How can an App help? First and foremost, all the sales information that a sales force needs, can be enabled through the App. Prospects can be assigned to sales members, who automatically see this in their prospect list. They can select the clients they will visit based on a geography, visit frequency or other criteria. As they visit diverse clients, they can look up the client history just before starting of the call. Any deals closure can be conveyed to the Company / Management immediately. The sales activity can be recorded instantly by pressing a selection from amongst the sales stages. Contact data of Clients can be updated through the App, as well record their special requirements. If a potential client uses a competitor, data can also be collected instantly, with volumes, price indicators, etc., so as to make better offers, or analyze the competition. In absence of the assigned account rep, a substitute can look up historical information as easily.

To keep a customized and individual contact with clients is crucial to ensure business success. Personal outreach involves a lot of coordination effort and planning. Enhanced flexibility on routes visiting (possible) clients is a huge asset for companies to strengthen their customer relations. Apps offer sales managers the opportunity to record and exchange information with other team members mobile. They can combine information and contact history concerning clients with territory management and facilitate feedback options.

Sales Managers can thus, not only directly add information about clients and contact history, but also access all relevant data to enhance the quality of the customer service. Contacts can be managed according to their quality (e.g. volume off take, ordering frequency, revenue size, brick walling competitors, according to location). This facilitates customized outreach and offers, especially in terms of Point of Sales materials. During sales calls, there is a high probability of discovering other potentials in the neighborhood. The inbuilt camera function can be used to capture address and send to the Inside Sales for further action.

All this power can be in the palms of the sales force, through an App – both on a Smartphone or Tablet device. The Tablet devices offer an additional advantage of showcasing your product brochures or specifications both in graphic and written form, as well as audio-visuals.

A complimentary Customer App can help place orders in real time, based on consumption or demands, which change due to seasonality, or other factors. Clients can register complaints, or give feedback on the quality of the sales call, directly to the Manager / Management, with complete transparency.

A custom developed Sales Force Management App, can not only provide quickly help populate a ‘CRM’ through a web based system, but also offer the flexibility and freedom to the Sales Force to focus on clients, acquisition and improve the overall quality of sales calls. After all, the aim is more sales with less sales management efforts.