Track Your Field Reps with Retail Operations
“Time is Money” an age-old truth that field representatives have lately forgotten. A 2018 survey of 700+ field reps revealed critical insights into the usage of their daily work-time. As shocking as it is, 61.7% of their time is spent on unproductive activities with only 38.3% left for selling.
According to the US Census Bureau, the average salary of a field rep is $31,395 per annum. The compensation that equates to 61.7% is approximately $19,370. This calculation is for one field rep. If you have ten field reps, then it raises to $193,700. That’s a lot of wasted money.
Research states that a significant chunk of the wasted time belongs to social media activities (facebook), hanging out with colleagues, office communications, and coordinating meetings.
Even in the little productive time, frequent laments such as unqualified leads, long traveling hours, competitors’ advantages, unrealistic quota, and lack of support, make way to the manager’s desk. This lack of adherence leaves behind unmet targets, pending retail audits, poor retail execution, and eventual retail failure.
In a time where the retail landscape is experiencing a paradigm shift, with brands continually seeking ways to stay afloat in-store while establishing a digital presence, can you afford field reps squandering their time on pointless activities and costing you dearly?
Track Your Field Reps
Though some deem technology as the reason behind the decline of brick-and-mortar stores, we say that technology can help you grow tremendously. All you need is effective usage, and the best place to start is by Tracking field reps.
On the road to retail efficiency, data gets paramount importance. By using technology, your field reps can analyze in-store foot traffic, customer surveys, and your competitor’s performance. However, to perform these activities, the field reps should be present at the stores on time with a great deal of dedication and consistency. A failure to do so is unacceptable.
With the help of cloud-based software, you can easily track their everyday activities and obtain real-time data. Assigning tasks, modifying KPIs and assessing compliance happens within a few minutes. Constant performance feeds to your reps with validated data can help them realize their pitfalls. This solution is, in fact, a key to retail success.
Apply Retail Execution
As much as we blame field reps on the failure, a part of it also relies on not utilizing all the tools at your disposal. As you replace manual analysis with modern technology, scheduling retail audits become agile. Furthermore, it accelerates data pool expansion. As you curate this data, you will find areas of improvement and attention. This information helps in assigning productive tasks to field reps and minimize mundane tasks.
Your field reps can now focus on merchandising while you remotely trace their performance and reduce operational hassle. Within a short duration, your retail operations are optimized for maximum benefits.
Pointing out retail challenges on a day-to-day basis is imperative for effective retail execution during these alarming times. Applying retail execution and tracking your field reps work-time activity will pave the way to your retail success.
