Time management is a factor that supervisors /administrators tightly tie to the success of every sales operation activity. To achieve profits and reap the most out of reps, proper allocation and management of time is imperative.
The 5-7 minute rule.
Did you know that the estimated time a sales rep attends to each customer is between 5-7 minutes with a total of 35 to 40 outlets per day? Yes! You read that right. To yield maximum profits and get the most out of daily sales activities, proper allocation and management of time is vital. With an efficient Sales Force Automation Tool, a supervisor’s ability to see what time a rep started duty, how much time was taken per customer outlet and how many outlets a rep visited will be possible.
Having pre-planned route plans– Route plans allow sales reps to be more productive in attending to the existing customers preferences and seek potential customers. Additionally, one can easily identify the most productive route.
Quick response time– This allows sales reps to proceed or attend to tasks much faster thus saving on time that would have otherwise been wasted on waiting for supervisor’s go ahead. For instance, stock uplift validation or rejection requests among other responses should be attended to promptly to allow for sales success.
Enforcing a Sales Force Automation Tool (SFA) – Automation of sales activities is becoming a necessity in almost every sales operation today. Reducing manual administrative tasks enables sales reps to spend more time convincing and attending to customers’ needs rather than carrying out tasks that can be automated.
Having healthy inventory management habits allows sales reps to save on time and money. A Sales rep should always have enough stock to serve customers within a stipulated working time frame. This avoids multiple visits to the stockists or warehouses.
Above are some of the effective time management tactics key players in the manufacturing and distribution industry may deploy to get the most from their daily sales activities as to achieve profits.
