Field Sales Management App: How to Keep Your Team Accountable?
Emily Maina
Last update on:
April 18, 2024 1:51 AM
Published on:
Managing a field sales team undoubtedly has its fair share of unique challenges. Picture this: You have a team of passionate sales reps out in the field, building relationships and closing deals. But how can you tell they’re getting the job done?
Accountability isn’t just a buzzword for field sales - it’s the foundation for success. This is especially true if your team is spread out across various territories. As they venture farther from the office, the need for monitoring and accountability becomes increasingly critical.
That’s where a field sales management app comes in as the ultimate solution. This guide will cover how you can keep your team accountable.
Field sales management involves overseeing a group of salespeople who are frequently on the road or in the field. These employees are on the front lines, meeting clients, closing deals, and representing your brand.
However, sales managers and leaders deal with various complexities when handling remote field sales teams. Here are some prominent obstacles they face:
Lack of Visibility: Field sales managers have little knowledge of what salespeople do when they are in the field.
Geographical Distances: Companies with field sales representatives covering extensive regions often struggle to keep tabs on their activities. Overpaying for mileage can be particularly costly if you don’t have a reliable tool.
Communication: Effective communication between field sales reps and management is essential. However, it can be challenging due to geographical dispersion.
Scheduling and Routing: Field sales managers face the ongoing problem of optimizing appointments and routes to reduce travel time and costs incurred by sales reps.
Given these challenges, it is evident that traditional methods used to manage field sales teams fall short. The field sales management app offers a flexible and comprehensive solution to bridge the gap between the office and the field.
What Is a Field Sales Management App?
So, what exactly is a field sales management app, and how does it address the challenges outlined above?
A field sales management app is a tool designed to streamline and enhance the operations of field sales teams. It offers a platform that effectively supports sales managers in tracking and monitoring the whereabouts of sales reps’.
This tool increases the productivity of sales reps by enabling field managers to manage many aspects of their operations properly. It provides companies with unique features to simplify the day-to-day work performed by their sales staff. In the long run, this increases revenue and lowers expenses.
Essential Features of a Field Sales Management App
With so many field sales management apps in the market today, finding the ideal one for your business might seem daunting.
Considering all the industry-specifics, here are some of the key features and functionalities you should be searching for in the automation app:
Real-Time Tracking
Real-time tracking is a game-changer in field sales management. With employees undertaking various roles in different locations, it’s simply impossible for one manager to oversee each simultaneously. However, with the right field sales management app, everything changes.
The best GPS tracking apps allow managers to keep track of their team’s activities in real time. They can track their locations and receive instant updates on sales progress.
With this level of transparency and accountability, resources can be allocated more effectively. Changes can also be made quickly where necessary.
Timeero Who’s Working Dashboard
Based on your specific company needs, mileage tracking may also be a highly beneficial feature on your field sales management app. Mileage tracking features allow you to view distances your sales rep covers and the locations they visited while clocking in.
It reduces the chances of error, ensuring you have more control of your fuel costs. You can even take advantage of route planning to lower prices further. Read our article on the best mileage-tracking apps for sales reps to learn more.
Easily replay routes with Timeero.
Communication Tools
Effective communication is the backbone of any successful sales team. Your field sales management app should bridge the gap between you and your team members. This is irrespective of whether they are huddled in one location or scattered across different areas.
An ideal app should facilitate real-time messaging, allowing managers and team members to stay connected no matter where they are physically.
Timeero’s Message Blast allows managers to message employees directly.
On an app like Timeero, employees can receive messages only from their managers through announcements. They can use the Notes functionality on their timesheets to add notes if they need to communicate back. This ensures that important information doesn’t get lost amid bulky emails and a ton of text messages.
Timeero users can see unread message notifications under Announcements. They can also add notes to their timesheets.
Managers can form dedicated channels for specific departments or projects, making scheduling or sending information more straightforward. This boosts teamwork in the company and ensures everyone is on the same page and working towards the same goal.
Managers can divide employees into Groups on Timeero for easy management.
Job Management
Field sales management apps like Timeero offer user-friendly interfaces that make creating, assigning, and tracking tasks and leads easy. This is crucial for streamlining your team’s workflow and simplifying field sales operations.
Using Timeero enables you to see when a sales rep clocks in and that they are in the right place while doing so. Sales reps can easily access tasks and clock in and out on mobile devices. This makes it easy for them to stay organized and focused in the field.
The result is that no leads fall through the cracks because each sales opportunity has a team member assigned to follow up. Ultimately, the company gets to experience increased conversions and revenue.
Managers can assign tasks to employees on Timeero.
Scheduling
A successful field sales operation depends on effective scheduling. With the help of a field sales management app, managers can easily create, modify, and improve schedules for their sales team.
You can ensure that everyone in your team is always where they need to be at the right time.
This is done by considering numerous factors, including geography, availability, and priority.
Scheduling optimization increases your team’s face-to-face client engagements while minimizing travel time and fuel expenses. As a result, there will be more chances to develop relationships and close sales, which will inevitably boost your revenue.
Adding a new schedule on Timeero.
Reporting
Data is vital in field sales, and an automation app is very useful in collecting data about your employees. You get to see exactly when everyone clocked in, the hours worked, their location, and the geographical distances covered. This makes time reporting in your company a walk in the park.
It provides practical insights at your fingertips, whether it’s about customer relationships, mileage tracking, or travel costs. This summary offers a bird’s-eye view of your team’s activities. Managers can then identify patterns, define areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions.
You can create customizable reports on Timeero.
Works Without an Internet Connection
A field sales management app with offline capabilities is an asset. Your employees will not always have access to an internet connection when they are out in the field.
That’s why it’s essential that the app still collects information and syncs it when an internet connection becomes available.
An app like Timeero is built to work offline, capturing GPS location and time information and storing it in the device. Once the user is back online, it becomes available in the cloud. You can still track mileage, time, and more with or without an internet connection.
Integration With Payroll Software
Integration with other platforms is an essential element to consider when selecting your field sales software. The application must work seamlessly with payroll software that your organization may use.
This includes applications like QuickBooks, Gusto, Rippling, Zapier, Vieventium, Xero, ADP, Paychex, and Paylocity. Being able to integrate data and systems across platforms simplifies payroll.
Connect to other applications using Timeero.
Best Practices for Implementing a Field Sales Management App
Implementing a field sales management app can greatly improve your sales team’s performance and accountability.
Follow these best practices to guarantee success when introducing the app:
Set clear goals before launching the app. Introducing a field sales management app to your team without an objective is a quick recipe for failure. You must first identify the specific issues you want to resolve to guide your implementation process. Some of these issues may include employees not providing accurate timesheets or miscommunication in the team. Defining your goal or goals beforehand will help ensure you stay on track.
Involve key stakeholders in the decision-making process. Remember that once you introduce the field management app into your business, managers will be on the ground enforcing it. You can get their opinions on the essential features and functionalities of the field sales software. You can consult them on how to incorporate it into their workflow best. Having support from other stakeholders will definitely make the adoption process simpler.
Choose the app that meets your specific company needs. When selecting an app for your door-to-door sales reps, consider the requirements of your salesforce. Consider the app’s scalability, user-friendliness, and interoperability with current cloud-based systems. You should also examine the availability of key features like communication tools, real-time tracking, and reporting.
Train your team to use the sales tracking app. Frustrations in enforcing the app may lead to employee pushback. Although employees are more likely to resist change in general, you can mitigate this issue in the workplace. Provide your field force with detailed instructions on how to use the app. You can put them through extensive training sessions that explain how to use the new product. The onboarding process is crucial for successful adoption. Timeero, for instance, offers stellar onboarding both for admins and employees, making the process easier.
Timeero user reviews on G2
Address any security and privacy concerns. Employees might be concerned about their managers snooping on them beyond their work frontiers. Assure them that the app only tracks their location and mileage when they are clocked in. To ease data security concerns, explain your plans for using the location information. Additionally, be specific about the following:
Will you track employees outside work hours?
Will you share staff information with third-party companies?
How will you safeguard the data you collect from the GPS tracking apps?
Timeero tracks location and mileage only while employees are on the clock.
Keep track of the progress made. Begin monitoring how the mobile app is used in your business and how it affects your team’s output and sales pipeline. With insights from the app, you will be able to see what employees are doing. This will help you verify whether they are doing what they are supposed to. You can then use various metrics to keep track of the money saved from not paying overinflated mileage or unnecessary overtime hours. Also, watch for app updates and new features that could further boost your team’s productivity.
Which Is the Best App for Field Sales?
When choosing an app for your field reps, Timeero stands out as a reliable and efficient solution.
Real-time and location tracking is one of Timeero’s most notable features. It provides you with constant access to the whereabouts of your team members after dispatching them using GPS-based tracking. Your activities will run as efficiently as possible because you can pinpoint their locations without any guesswork or uncertainty.
With Timeero, task management also becomes a breeze. You can easily assign, monitor, and manage projects and appointments all within the software solution.
Additionally, Timeero has a mobile app for both iOS and Android that lets your employees access their assigned work while on the go. It is built to work offline and does not depend on an internet connection. Its activity tracking features allow you to accurately identify time spent on sales activities, improving accountability and payroll management.
Mileage tracking can be a logistical headache for companies with field sales personnel. It can also be quite costly, especially in cases where mileage is overpaid due to ineffective tracking.
Timeero handles this by providing a precise solution for recording and tracking mileage driven by your team members during work hours. This functionality is critical when reimbursing expenses pertaining to your sales operations.
Adopting a new management tool may seem daunting from the onset. However, Timeero’s user-friendly interface facilitates easy and quick adoption. With a short learning curve, your field sales reps can use the app efficiently right away.
You can read our Timeero review to learn more about this tracking software, its features, and its benefits.
Ensure your field sales team's accountability with TImeero.
Field Sales Management Apps FAQs
What Is the Purpose of Field Sales Management?
Field sales management aims to oversee a sales team outside the office, often on the road or in the field. Its primary goal is to ensure sales reps are productive and hitting their goals. Field managers are responsible for monitoring team members’ sales performance to ensure the business is growing.
How Do You Monitor a Field Sales Team?
You can use a number of techniques to manage a field sales team efficiently. Using GPS tracking to monitor their movements helps in territory management, ensuring they cover their designated areas. In field sales management apps, you can also employ task assignments, progress tracking, and real-time communication tools.
How Do You Keep a Field Sales Team Accountable?
Implementing a field sales management app is the most convenient and efficient way to keep a sales prospecting team accountable. Features of this management solution make it easy to oversee operations in your sales territory. These features include timesheet management, employee scheduling, route optimization, mileage tracking, and reporting.
Effortlessly track and manage your field sales reps with Timeero.
Emily Maina is a tech-savvy writer with a passion for creating content. With years of experience in the industry, she is well-versed in the latest trends and developments in the tech industry. When she’s not working, Emily enjoys exploring the great outdoors or watching her favorite shows.
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