A field force is an extension of a company's policy outside its head office. In this case, field forces are used to apply and conquer the external market. While human resources handles the company's internal forces, it also manages its field forces. This is reflected in the way they are managed, so that missions are carried out with the utmost success. But first of all, it's important to understand what field force efficiency is, so as to understand its importance within a company. But how to achieve field force effectiveness is the subject of this article, which will unfold in 3 stages. First, the role of coaching and development will be explained. Next, performance optimization and operational efficiency. Finally, it will be shown how loyalty and recognition affect the effectiveness of a field force.
Understanding field force effectiveness
This is the first step in discovering the weaknesses of a company policy and remedying them. Observing the field force will enable us to understand it, and also to anticipate problems linked to its effectiveness. It's worth remembering that the field force most often concerns members of the sales team. This is precisely why sales performance depends to a large extent on field force management.
The field force must be effective in order to give the company a competitive advantage edge in sales. This also helps to avoid poor performance due to lack of control on the part of sales force team members. The aim is to deploy the company's human resources in the field of sales in an optimal way.
Field forces become more effective when they are informed of the distribution of their sales territory. The same applies to sales quotas and clear sales targets set by sales managers.
The benefits of field force management
Here are some of the advantages of having field force management:
- Cost reduction,
- Decision-making based on customer engagement data,
- Increases customer revenue,
- Contributes to customer loyalty,
- Enables professional development,
- Remain up to date with the latest technologies,
- Improves customer and vendor relationship management,
- Set up a customer database,
- Maximum sales for minimum expenditure.
Aside from the competitive edge that field service management can provide, it's important to emphasize its areas of focus. Indeed, optimizing field force management mainly concerns everything to do with the sales process. That's why companies that focus on marketing and sales management rely on the effectiveness of their sales force effectiveness. These include fields such as
- The pharmaceutical industry,
- Medical representatives,
- Advertising companies,
- Companies whose core business is market trends,
- etc.
But how do you achieve this field force management? The next point in this article will show how to improve the efficiency of your field force.
Coaching and development
To coordinate the actions of your field force and make them effective, you'll need to coach them. In sales management terms, this means nurturing the team with real-time information or customer satisfaction training. In practice, it means making the field force operational with general skills. This means having the right man in the right place, taking external factors into account.
Coaching courses are delivered by sales managers, who are responsible for keeping up to date with the latest developments. This coaching enables both sales managers and field agents to keep abreast of market trends. The result is continuous improvement in customer interactions.
However, for effective management of field forces, coaching should be geared towards each team member. Indeed, sales team members should receive personal coaching according to their ability and skills. This not only contributes to the effectiveness of the field force, but also to better sales management. In addition, development coaching enables sales team members to improve their sales performance by minimizing poor performance.
In this case, the coaching and development of a sales team member will be to help him understand his itinerary planning. It will also involve reviewing with him the different ways of streamlining workflows. In this way, the company's personnel management development strategies can be integrated into day-to-day operations.
In addition to coaching and development for field force management, there are a number of specific optimization programs.
Performance optimization
When it comes to performance optimization, there are two types of program that enable efficient management of field services. The first is to rely on established human programs and the second is to refer to software.
Performance optimization programs
These are preconceived programs designed by sales management experts that have long since proved their worth. To have full power over your force management in the field, you'll need to apply these 3 methods.
- Team performance in the field
This is a major lever for force effectiveness in the field, in the sense that every action results in performance. What's more, given that performances differ and that people are not the same, it's vital to monitor every team result.
To do this, you need to automate tasks and monitor their execution in real time. In this case, you can rely on customer relationship management (CRM) systems as an automation tool. This tool will provide you with valuable information on your sales force, sales field teams and customer relationship management. It's like having a dashboard with all the figures symbolizing customer interactions. You'll be able to draw on customer experience and identify experienced salespeople based on customer data.
However, optimizing sales team members doesn't just mean working on them, but on their work assignments. Optimizing performance means cutting back on administrative tasks to focus more on customer needs.
- Customer experience
Field force management is all about improving sales performance and turning customers into brand ambassadors. For the latter task, you can only achieve it by training your field force to nurture their customer experience. Essentially, this means building long-term relationships with customers, with the aim of building loyalty. This requires not only general skills, but also a mastery of digital tools.
Indeed, data automation is an essential key to the customer experience (storing customer files and data). The sales manager will be able to use this information to avoid repetitive tasks or bad policy in the future.
- Matching skills
Field force management is first and foremost about knowing the members of the sales team, or the team at all. In this case, the sales manager will use the information or even the results of his team to establish the criterion of professionalism. This will enable him to put the right man in the right job.
On the other hand, this knowledge can be improved if the sales manager has the right tools and updates the information received. This will substantially enhance the competitive edge and coordination of sales team members.
Apart from this, there are specialized tools for performance optimization
Performance software
This is the other method that helps optimize field force management, and in fact, helps the most. First of all, it's important to distinguish between task automation and the use of software like FieldPro in the sales process or sales performance.
Here are just a few of the benefits of using software FieldPro in the sales process:
- Greater flexibility and efficiency for sales team members,
- Real-time monitoring of field forces,
- Timely access to data and automatic analysis,
- etc.
However, these tools can be found as free downloads on the Internet, or as part of training courses. For example, you can take a course on Udemy and use it for your company or as a sales manager. But you can also have packaging when you recruit in-house trainers to manage the effectiveness of your field force. It's worth noting that, like all software, it comes in free, premium and business versions.
Even if customer satisfaction is already assured at this stage, you still need to think about the next step in the hope of not seeing your edifice crumble.
Operational efficiency
This results from the application of all that has been said above concerning field force management. Field force effectiveness becomes operational when the sales manager personally monitors the progress of missions. Through his dashboard, he looks at the various records of his team that denote the sales process.
This efficiency has two positive effects on sales team members:
- Trust in management directives
Indeed, once workers know that management, those who lead them or the sales manager are monitoring their performance, they are better motivated. What's more, they've been coached by experts, which galvanizes them to carry out outdoor tasks.
- Improved customer experience
Once the sales agent feels confident with clear guidelines to follow, he or she is more dedicated to the job. This enhances their professionalism and motivates them to perform, making coaching profitable through customer loyalty.
Apart from this, other benefits for the company include
- Lower training costs,
- Lower first-time repair rates,
- Increased productivity at various levels,
- Elimination of unnecessary or similar tasks assigned to several people.
Once you've done that, you'll have sales agent loyalty. But what do we mean by this?
How does a Field Force Management application work?
In general, it takes a certain tact to pilot applications or software that empower field operations. Generally speaking, CRM applications cover a certain area of action (Africa, Europe, America, Asia). On free applications, you can proceed with the free trial or demo version.
But to get to know the CRM application in depth, you need to know its key features and benefits.
Features of a CRM application
Typically, you have the following tabs
This is mainly used by the sales manager to establish tasks and optimize the movement of agents in the field. This reduces costs in terms of fuel costs and time.
This type of document in two versions (the web version and the mobile version) for proactive monitoring of actions in the field. It provides you with real-time statistics.
With this tab, you can plan the work to be done in terms of inputs and outputs. You'll have a structured, automated rendering that updates itself after a set period of time.
- Software mobile application
This is a tab that lets you transfer all tasks from your computer to your cell phone. So you can keep an eye on force management in the field, while offline and backed up.
Benefits of a CRM software application
Here are 08 major advantages of this service:
- Flexible configuration (possibility of changing parameters),
- Ticketing system (allowing you to establish secure transactions),
- Completely offline working (you can work on or off the Internet),
- Download available from PlayStore and application platforms,
- Cloud-based software (so you can't lose your work, and there's plenty of storage capacity),
- Low data consumption (when browsing, you'll enjoy smooth planning and transactions),
- User-friendly design, with clear instructions to get the job done without the need for a tutorial,
- With an account manager (you can supervise the development of your sales force).
The final step in sales force management is, of course, to recognize everyone's efforts.
Loyalty and recognition
Having the figures and data that improve productivity, shows sales agents who have made progress or who have become sales professionals. To make this a reality, it's essential to reward effort and excellence at work.
To begin with, this bonus gives the recipient a certain motivation to do better or to continually deserve it. It's all the better for everyone's performance.
Secondly, this recognition helps to avoid the frustration of not being recognized at one's true worth. This is sometimes the reason why certain sales executives or people who have performed well during the course of a mission leave. This represents a brain drain and a gain for the competition.
In a way, this is an excellent way to manage field forces, whether internal or external. Applying these steps will give your company perfect knowledge of its human resources and a definite edge over the competition.
Improve the efficiency of your field force
Improving the efficiency of your field force means optimizing team management, making better use of technology and focusing on results.
- Optimize team management: Clarify roles and responsibilities, set clear and measurable objectives, encourage continuous training and skills development.
- Leverage technology: Use field management, CRM and data analysis tools to improve visit planning, lead management and performance monitoring.
- Focus on results: Set relevant KPIs, measure performance regularly, reward success and identify areas for improvement.
Ensure fluid communication between field teams and support departments, encourage the sharing of best practices and value feedback.
Uncover concrete strategies for optimizing team management, harnessing cutting-edge technologies and delivering outstanding results. Start improving your sales force's effectiveness in the field today!
