How Field Force Management Software Overcomes Door-To-Door Sales Challenges

Learn how field force management software optimises task and order management and helps sales agents overcome door-to-door sales challenges.

Field sales are an essential component of most businesses. Even today, in the time of automation and AI, companies rely on field sales agents to sell, promote, or pitch their products to clients.

D2D sales are required where interpersonal pitching, communication, or demos come into play. For instance, MRs sell new drugs to healthcare companies. Managing field sales agents can also be a hassle as they work off-site and travel a lot.

However, you can use field force management software (FFM) to manage your D2D sales executives’ tasks, client visits, sales orders, and daily performance.

Dive in to learn more about D2D sales, the challenges associated with them, and how FFM software overcomes these challenges.

What are Door-to-Door Sales?

Door-to-door sales are a form of direct sales, the second most prominent sales method after retail. Direct sales involve selling directly to customers, retailers, or distributors. These can be both B2C and B2B sales.

Door-to-door sales, field sales, or in-person sales are a form of direct sales. When you have a team of sales reps who are selling straight to the customer, often after visiting their premises.

The intention of D2D sales is to reach potential buyers to pitch products and make sales. But the purpose of the visits, other than sales can be to:

• Make customers aware of the product (for maybe new launches, offers).
• Pitching the product so they can refer them through word of mouth.
• Or at least conducting demos to get potential buyers.

Businesses often rely on manual methods like phone calls, WhatsApp or other outdated technology—to manage their sales reps. As a result, they face numerous challenges that impact their efficiency and profitability. This is why using field force management software is a must if you wish to boost your sales.

Challenges Faced by Door-to-Door Sales Agents & Managers

Field sales can be demanding for both employees and managers. The salesmen have to reach customers on time and ensure satisfactory service at all times. Sales managers have to coordinate with their executives remotely. They also need to ensure a smooth workflow and maintain the productivity levels of employees.

Let’s take a look at all the challenges field reps. and managers face while conducting door-to-door sales.

1. Challenges Faced by Field Sales Agents

• Poor task understanding

Field sales reps often don’t receive proper task details like description and location. Managers may miss adding them or it could be due to using manually managed tools for task allocation and resource distribution.

• Lack of coordination with the team

Employees need to contact their superiors if they encounter a difficulty or have a query while performing a task. Working in remote conditions can make it challenging to get in touch with other team members or managers in time. Employees can face battery or network issues. They may also deal with errors like task overlap or repeat task allocation.

• Difficulty Navigating the Schedule 

The daily job of salesmen involves visiting prospects. As such, they spend a significant chunk of their time during transit, they don’t receive a proper schedule. They might get paper schedules or task details on fragmented messages or calls. They may not have clarity of which or how many sites they have to visit during the day. This creates confusion and makes them confused about how to approach their itinerary.

• Attendance misreporting

Field employees already travel to many locations, they cannot bear walking far off the branch office to mark attendance. Many businesses make them do it. This kills their time. Sales agents are often paid for the clients they visit, the distance they travel, and the products they sell.

There is a need for an all-inclusive field force management software, that lets them remotely mark in and out from the task location itself.

• Manual data entry and paperwork

Many field salesmen have to carry and fill out paperwork manually. This includes customer sales logbooks, order books or sales registers, invoice books, timesheets, and whatnot. All to lodge data around their daily visits & tasks. sheets. This can be both time-consuming and mentally draining. Plus, manual data entry might call for human errors which are irreversible.  This can further complicate the sales process.

• Using multiple technology 

Field sales executives not only have to deal with customers, but they also have to handle their own routine operations like marking task status, registering attendance, and expense data.

This can be challenging to do if executives have to juggle multiple apps. To perform his job smoothly, an average field sales executive requires:

• Order tracking app
• Payroll management software
• Attendance and time tracking app
• Task management system

Using such separate software can be counterproductive to staff’s efficiency. Field executives already spend a big chunk of their work hours on transit. If they have to handle admin tasks so complexly, they may not deliver better to their main job – which is to close more sales.

2. Challenges Faced by Field Sales Managers

• Time theft and fraudulent attendance

Time theft is a common issue in businesses dealing with the D2D sales workforce. Due to the lack of clarity in field agents’ routines, managers struggle to deal with buddy punching, extended breaks, idling, deviating from routes, unaccounted time, intentionally missed punches, etc.

All these are forms of time theft and can hamper your employees’ productivity and increase operational costs.

• Inefficient task allocation

Remote task allocation requires proper consideration. Managers have to consider factors like staff location, skillset, availability, proximity to the client, and bandwidth before allocating tasks. This can be challenging and prone to errors, especially if done manually. Some employees may end up with more work than their capacity while others will receive less work.

• Lack of employee visibility

Knowing someone is watching them can be immensely helpful in maintaining employee accountability. However, it is tough for a single manager to monitor dozens or even hundreds of field executives. Plus, field agents work in remote areas and are often out of reach.

This results in activity gaps and unaccounted work hours. Poor visibility of employees also makes it difficult for managers to assign ad-hoc tasks or alert employees about urgent updates.

• Measuring employees’ performance

Managers need accurate data to calculate and improve field sales teams’ performance. This is necessary for promotions, appraisals or to identify areas of improvement. Rewarding the top-performing employees is also helpful in maintaining team morale.

However, scattered or inaccurate data can hinder this process. Plus, measuring employee performance is not possible manually. It requires a lot of data analysis can be difficult to do without a software solution.

How Field Force Management Software Like TrackoField Overcomes Door-to-Door Sales Challenges

So far, you have learned about the problems that make door-to-door sales difficult. Now, let’s understand how to solve these issues using field force management software like TrackoField. Here are its unique features to streamline your salesforce operations.

• Real-time Field Activities Tracking

TrackoField is equipped with an integrated GPS-tracking system with a map view. It can show the precise location of employees on the map along with their current tasks, activity status, distance, and more. Whether an employee is travelling, idling, on break, or at task site, all his data is displayed on a centralised dashboard.

Managers can also view the battery and network strength of their employees’ devices. The centralised dashboard also lets employees review their total orders, daily expenses, and clock-in time. Any errors can be immediately notified to superiors and corrected. The real-time tracking feature in TF improves team coordination and transparency.

• Sales Quota Allocation and Daily Sales Progress

Field force management software lets managers track employee location, availability, and task status in real time. This allows for optimised task scheduling and staff route planning. Managers can assign tasks based on an employee’s bandwidth, availability, and location. Employees can receive immediate alerts in case of any issues on the route.

Field executives can self-allocate tasks or reschedule them as well. Software like TrackoField even allows bulk task creation and calendar scheduling. The software also lets users upload videos, voice notes, documents, and images accompanying tasks. This lets managers explain tasks in any language and ensure all employees are on the same page.

• Fool-proof, Location-verified Attendance Recording

TrackoField ensures accurate employee attendance thanks to its unique geofencing and GPS-tracking features. The software logs time-stamped and geocoded attendance. Managers can also mandate a selfie upload option for added security. Furthermore, attendance can be linked with tasks.

TrackoField lets managers set up a geofence around a task site. This ensures that executives can only log their attendance once they are present at the task site.

• 20+ Insightful Reports on Sales, Visits & Actual Hours

Field force management software generates several useful reports to gain insight into your employees’ activities. You can use these reports to identify hidden trends, spot patterns or find discrepancies in employee data.

• D2D Sales Orders Management Module

This is the most important feature for a salesman. An organisation could have thousands of customers and even more categories of products. It’s essential to have a systematic method of keeping track of the orders.

FFM software like TrackoField can maintain an exhaustive product list that can be easily accessed or modified by sales agents. They can also adjust order pricing and offer custom discounts to clients. Salesmen don’t have to worry about paperwork either. They can just create custom forms with custom fields to get client feedback. TrackoField also offers:

• Barcode scanner for PoD
• Remote order generation
• Instant order approval
• Ad-hoc order placement

• Field Expense and Payroll Management

Sales agents incur a variety of expenses during their jobs. Field force management software lets you create custom expense categories for food, fuel, stationery, or more. Field staff can raise expense claims on the go with attached images of receipts. Managers can approve the requests and decide on the reimbursement amounts.

Since salesmen often take commission, work in scattered shifts and do overtime, they can’t be paid like normal employees. Amazingly, TrackoField’s payroll management software can calculate accurate payroll and expenses.

Wrapping Up!

Sales is no easy job! Even today, sales operations are carried out manually by field executives. Now, this can be challenging as field work is quite unpredictable. Salesmen face challenges like poor team coordination and too much administrative work.

Field sales managers have to deal with time theft and lack of employee visibility. But how do you tackle these challenges? Well, the most reliable method is by using technology. Field force management software like TrackoField can greatly simplify the job of sales executives.

It optimises task allocation, simplifies order management, and enhances sales executives’ productivity. Get in touch with TrackoField staff to know more about how it overcomes door-to-door sales challenges.

FAQs

• What are the benefits of field force management software for sales executives?

  Field force management software can transform sales operations in several ways. It can help field executives and their managers. Here are the benefits of the software for sales employees:-
  - Accurate and fast order placement
  - Reduced task overlaps or repetition
  - Real-time order and task visibility
  - Quick field expense reimbursements
  - Access to an extensive product list
  - Custom forms to record client feedback or other data

• How does field force management software help salesmen improve customer relations?

  Customers are king! The analogy holds true for field sales employees as well. Satisfied customers result in more sales, better brand value, and higher revenue. As such, field force management software also prioritises good customer relations. Here's how the software helps sales employees:
  - Higher first-time fix rate (FTFR)
  - Reduced turnaround time (TAT)
  - Custom order prices and discounts