Why Mobility solutions stack up - in $ and sense

Having staff moving from job to job more efficiently and transaction information flowing straight into your back-end systems, is the sure fire way to get greater revenue and productivity from your mobile teams. Read on to find out how...

By Chris Smith

As a former sales manager for an FMCG company, I feel uniquely qualified to write this article – because, having spent years at the coalface of sales, I know full well how bereft of usable information and technology I was, and how impressive today’s mobile sales applications are by comparison. Now while you might think I’m talking about repping in the 1960s, I’m not.

Try the early 90s instead. Back then I was travelling all over the country filling in for sick reps. Taking over their calls, I’d walk into supermarkets with a cardboard order card, count all the stock on hand, write that number in the card, and then approach the grocery manager to work up an order. I either had no idea, or a very vague idea, of what our out-ofstocks were (and there were routinely many). I also had little idea of what had been successfully delivered from the preceding order. Yes I had a folder jammed with print outs and pricing information, but it was very difficult to even get five minutes with a buyer at a desk to shuffle through this, so we had to be ready to do our sales presentations leaning on cartons out by the credit bins.

Put simply, it wasn’t sophisticated. Product and pricing knowledge was difficult to access, and as far as specific store information went – on which to propose sales specials or bonus deals – all I had to go on was that ragged sales card and the previous entries. Now while it would be nice to say that scenarios like this are all now ancient history, there will be many reading this article today for whom the cardboard or paper order form is still the dominant piece of sales kit in the hands of their sales teams – with all the inherent productivity losses that that brings.

Mobile sales applications – the process
So how does a mobile sales application change all this? Typically it will run on some kind of portable computing device – either a laptop, Tablet PC or PDA. The complexity of the order entry will often dictate the type of device used, as screen size may be important in ease-of-ordering terms.

The device can either be ‘always on’ – permanently connected to office servers wirelessly – allowing users to dispatch their orders real-time. Or it can connect and synchronise at various times during the day – sending orders and receiving relevant sales information and emails etc. The order process will in many ways mimic what was once done with paper orders, however, instead of faxing them in or delivering them to the office by hand, the orders are sent wirelessly.

This means the order dispatch process begins almost as soon as the order is taken, and it also means office bound order entry staff don’t have to re-key orders (and potentially make mistakes while doing so) which ultimately means less credits and more satisfied customers. The suite of tools & information available in a mobile sales application will usually include sales orders, customer sales history, corporate email, (typically synchronised with Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes), sales opportunities and promotions, often with the ability to record proposals and quotes, and marketing information like special trade promotions relevant to that particular customer.

Back at the office, the mobile sales application integrates with legacy ERP systems and warehousing solutions. Out-of-stocks are immediately highlighted so the buyer can be advised or request substitutes. Electronic orders are picked and dispatched without any re-keying. Sales representatives are thus given better information and more time in the field with their customers – as opposed to sorting out problems and paperwork in their offices (something I spent at least an hour a day on as a sales rep), which makes them more productive.

We’re talking profits
While there are many benefits in using mobile sales applications – no re-keying, enhanced order accuracy, better customer service, faster stock turns – perhaps the main one is better utilisation of a sales rep’s time.

Companies should be looking to target three things when they investigate sales force automation solutions;

1) More calls in a day.

2) Improving the chances of getting an order

3) Increasing the value of the orders.

So let’s do some numbers – using the hypothetical example of a team of 20 sales reps, making an average of five sales calls a day. As a sales rep, it took me around 15 minutes after a call, to transfer the card info onto an order sheet, and about 40 minutes to drive to our office and hand the days orders in for keying (they were almost a metre across, so too large to fax). On an average day that amounted to almost two hours wasted. For argument’s sake, let’s say my company made $100 profit per sales call I made.

Now, if using a mobile sales application freed up enough time to make just one extra sales call a day, then that would equate to $500 a week extra profit, or $26,000 a year. Multiply that across a team of 20 representatives and you’re talking $520,000 a year.

But that’s not all. With a comprehensive sales history of each customer, up to date stock levels and client specific promotional information at their fingertips, we can assume that a sales rep should be able to increase the profitability of each call by at least $20. Across the entire sales team, that’s about another $500,000 a year. Suffice to say, the return on investment from a mobile sales application is significant, and occurs more quickly than you might think.

Implementation - how to
The first step of any mobile sales application implementation is to establish the need and the desired financial or process outcomes, and gain senior management commitment to the project.

Then you will have to pick your technology partners. There are three basic categories of partners;

1) Network providers (Ie: Telstra, Vodafone) who provide the wireless connection. Excellent coverage is required to ensure the system works when and where your team needs it to, so check for coverage in your rep’s most isolated call areas, or make sure you cover off-line usage.

2) Hardware platform providers (for laptops, Tablets or PDAs) – and these may be conditional on what network you opt for.

3) Software application providers. You should choose the software provider first because application usability is the most important component.

Typically, integration is not difficult as most apps can easily integrate with existing ERP systems. In selecting hardware, consider the mix of technology that’s going to be needed to optimise the mobile work force’s effectiveness. The sales team, for instance, might need mobile access from laptops that double as sales presentation platforms (so a laptop or Tabletsized screen will be required). Once all these aspects have been scoped, implementation times can vary, but most businesses are typically only a few months away from being able to empower their sales teams. Time frames can be affected by the complexity of the information required, for example, a company may want images of its products scanned or it may need to tidy up its financial system, and standardise product descriptions. That said, five to 16 weeks would be a typical mobile sales application installation time frame.

Where are we & what are we doing there?
If an organisation is looking at a mobile sales force solution, that’s probably a good time to investigate a vehicle tracking solution as well, especially if there’s a large vehicle fleet involved – in which case rocketing fuel prices are making vehicle tracking systems almost a ‘no-brainer’ to justify in financial terms.

So let’s say you have a fleet of vehicles on the road. Things seem to be going well, but sometimes there are long delays. Some employees just seem slow. What are they doing differently? Do they just drive more slowly? Do they run errands on work time?

With a vehicle tracking system (VTS) installed, you can either watch what your vehicle fleet is doing in real-time, or you can look up a record of your employee’s travel history at any time (through a web interface). This can be helpful for calculating correct onsite charges for a customer, and also enables managers to see exactly where their vehicles have been stopping throughout the day – and for how long (it’s also possible with some solutions to log exact physical locations at every stop). And the benefits don’t end there. In addition to exact location details, units can be set to text their owners if they are moved (ie: being stolen or towed away). They can detect rapid deceleration (as experienced in a crash) and will text the physical address of the crash site. Speeding vehicles is another issue for many organisations, and VTS units can be set up to text fleet managers if the vehicle they’re installed in exceeds a preset speed limit.

Concealed somewhere in a vehicle, gps units transmit realtime location/vehicle status data

Fleet manager can monitor entire fleets via a desktop PC

How they work
Vehicle tracking systems are normally wired into the vehicle’s battery and work using a combination of GPS and mobile telecommunications networks. Using the mobile network, the GPS unit provides all location and status data to a server which can then be accessed via a web browser interface by authorised personnel and fleet managers. While GPS location information (the dashboard mounted guidance system) is the standard feature of all vehicle tracking solutions, there are a range of other services they can deliver, depending on which product/package you opt for. For example, some solutions can monitor a vehicle’s odometer, temperature, fuel and emissions - and can even tell you how much fuel was used while a vehicle was idling. Others can tell you whether a vehicle’s ignition is on or off, whether a door is opened or closed – and send you alerts when a vehicle arrives or departs a specific location. Units can also manage service orders, dispatching jobs out to field teams efficiently based on their location.

We’re talking profits
Although addressing security concerns (they can locate your vehicle if it is stolen for example) and monitoring errant drivers are features of vehicle tracking systems, these are typically ‘exceptional’ events, whereas fleet management efficiency is where the solutions are most likely to positively impact an organisation’s bottom line. For example, are you paying too much in road user charges? Are your fuel bills higher than they need to be? Analysis of VTS information will give you answers you need.

So what might that investment be worth in terms of savings? The payment options differ, but usually they breakdown into two key areas – hardware & installation and monthly monitoring & network data fees. Now let’s say you have a fleet of 100 trucks, and by eliminating idle time, and targeted training of your drivers on the best routes to take you save 15 minutes per truck per day. That works out to be a saving of 24 ‘truck hours’ per day. Given three eight hour shifts that would mean the efficiencies gained from a VTS solution could enable you to save the price of three trucks plus their fuel, plus three drivers and the associated maintenance bills every year. It can also reduce the amount of training required for a new dispatcher as efficient coordination of a large fleet is a lot easier when you can see it from a bird’s eye view. Mobile solutions are worth a closer look wouldn’t you say?

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