Mobile CRM has brought novel innovation in 21 st century. CRM software evolves over the period of time. You can use latest CRM software on your smart phone. This is the major advantage of using CRM on mobile phone. The major benefit of mobile crm is that it can be accessed as well as used from anywhere. Sales department reaps the major benefit of the software solution because they can use it on the run.
Sales Reps work at different geographical location in our organization. That’s why Sales Territory Management Plan is very important strategy for our company. The strategy helps us define the territory for sales and also ensure that sales people do not contest among one another for the same client or visit a customer twice. This sort of plan is very effective to save money and time in the long run. Let us see how the plan helps a business like us:
- Segmentation of the customers across territory: In our company, we categorize the customers according to our organization and put them in different territories accordingly. Each territory should have good potential, reasonable size, and minimal obstacles. We grouped our clients according to similar product and need. I used multi tagging feature of Relaso Sales CRM to segment our customers from different geographical location. Once customers are categorized, we use the mobile app to sort and filter the clients as per location. The whole procedure enables us designing our territory plan and assign our filed representative accordingly.
- Assign Location-wise: Each territory is assigned to a salesperson to cover in our organization. This way we can avoid overlapping each other’s territory. We also have to consider the potential of each sales rep during assignment and place them according to their suitability. Say, for instance, if one rep is able to visit more clients each day, or he has strong relationship with the customers, then he should be assigned in a territory where number of customers are high.
Here goes an example, in our company we assign sales rep, Mr X , for a geographical location, knowing fully he will be able to handle it. On the other hand, we assign the sales rep, Mr. Y, for a remote territory because he is comfortable in travelling. - Evaluate your plan after implementation: Once we implement our plan , we try to find out any loopholes. If we find any issue, we have to figure out how to address them. For instance, using mobile CRM tool, when we see that any of our rep is travelling , we try to put a plan in place that is time-efficient. In this way, we modify our plan from time to time and evaluate the result afterwards. It is also advisable to try different ideas from time to time and see the result. Initially, your idea may appears to be mismatch. However, you can reap the benefit of the new idea from time to time.
- Optimization of Territory Assignment: Optimization of territory is a crucial part of Sales Force Automation Process. Company Sales Managers can use these add-on CRM tools to assign intelligent combination of Leads and Territory to the sales stuff. According to Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner Inc.,
“companies that use territory optimization tools will increase revenue by 1% to 3%.”
The essential features of Territory Mnagement includes Software mapping and visualization tools, workflow and collaborative features. The add-on tool provides the automation process for the distribution of assignments, and integration with CRM applications for lead generation and incentive compensation.
- Location Tracking : Relaso Sales CRM tracks and records location by using GPS tracking which is integrated with the software. Our sales team use the mobile app to check-in at the client’s location to record their visits. As a Manager, I monitor number of monthly and weekly visits of the sales people using the Location Check-in report of the Mobile app. We also reward the sales rep from time to time for their performance based on the data from the CRM.
- Better Monitoring: Territory management feature of a mobile CRM solution assists a sales manager like me to monitor the activities remotely because I already know their area of operation. Problems associated with any particular rep or group can be tracked quickly. It also helps me watch the trend of a particular region and makes strategies accordingly.
I realized from my experience if an organization keeps better relationships with clients and keep an eye on the field operations, it stays ahead of the competition. There may be some hiccups initially after implementation of the strategy. However, company managers should consider them as a learning curve.