The Importance of Customer Identification in Go-To-Market Strategies

Being able to properly identify your customers is the cornerstone of a successful and rigorous go-to-market strategy. It lays out the foundation on which you can afterwards perform a segmentation of the outlets, define the territories, and determine the sales infrastructure required to cover this territory, including distributors and sales representatives.

Traditional trade in Africa is characterized by small shops operating on small capitalization, which makes them vulnerable to bankruptcy or closure due to seasonal effects (e.g., agents closing shops to go harvesting). While some companies opt to hire external agencies for one-time census exercises, leveraging internal resources with software solutions for field agents offers continuous updates and insights.

This method ensures that the data collected is accurate and synchronizes with the cloud-stored database, accessible online through the FieldPro web app for both managers and field users.

Key Dimensions for Retailer Identification on the Field

From our experience, capturing detailed information about retailers is crucial for effective field management and sales strategy. Essential data points include:

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• Shop name
• Outside / Inside picture
• Type of shop. Use the classification that makes sense to you with specific options
• Product categories sold. This is useful to make sure these outlets sell similar products as yours.
• GPS localization. Make sure the accuracy is below 10 meters
• Shop owner contact details: email address, phone, name
• Shop assistant contact details: email address, phone, name
• Unique identifier. It can be an agent code, or a number specific to your business to be used as a primary key

• Address description. Plain text indication of where to find the shop as the street address might not be accurate
• District / City
• Equipment presence, such as fridge, cooler, etc.
• Branding / Shelves / Hanger picture

Best practices that can be enforced with the FieldPro app to ensue data quality

Ensuring high-quality data capture is paramount for effective field management and analytics. FieldPro app introduces a suite of functionalities designed to uphold data integrity, facilitating accurate and actionable insights.

Here’s how:

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Define Regex Rules for Precision

Regular Expressions (Regex) provide a powerful method to enforce data format consistency. By setting Regex constraints, you ensure that all data entered, such as phone numbers or asset codes, adhere to predefined formats.

For instance, configuring a rule that requires phone numbers to start with a specific digit and be exactly 10 digits long is crucial for applications like mobile money incentives. Similarly, asset codes can be standardized to match internal formats, guaranteeing the capture of only high-quality, usable data.

Mandatory Fields for Comprehensive Data Collection

Identifying key attributes as mandatory ensures that critical data is never overlooked. We recommend setting essential fields such as pictures, GPS coordinates, outlet names, and unique identifiers (e.g., agent codes or phone numbers) as compulsory.

This approach ensures that each entry in your database is complete and meaningful, laying a solid foundation for robust data analysis and decision-making.

Unique Attributes to Eliminate Duplicates

Designating certain attributes as unique prevents multiple registrations of the same retailer, thereby avoiding data duplication. Utilizing unique identifiers, like phone numbers or agent codes, as primary keys, helps maintain a clean, duplicate-free database. This practice is essential for accurate tracking and management of retailer information, ensuring each entry represents a distinct entity.

Conditional Attributes for Targeted Information Capture

Implementing conditional logic for specific attributes enhances the relevance and specificity of the data collected. By making the capture of certain information dependent on specific responses—such as the shop type or presence of assets—you tailor the data collection process to gather only the most pertinent information for each outlet profile. This tailored approach ensures that your database is not only comprehensive but also aligned with the unique characteristics and needs of each retailer.

These best practices, enabled by the FieldPro app, are instrumental in cultivating a database that stands as a beacon of reliability and utility. By emphasizing data quality through precise formatting, mandatory completeness, uniqueness, and conditional logic, businesses can leverage their field data to drive informed strategies and operational excellence.

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