Itinerary routing for your on-the-road sales team

Sales teams are returning to the road, as we emerge from the worst of the pandemic.  This is a great time and opportunity to review how this is done in your sales organisation, and the degree to which you let the sales team members determine it for themselves.

 

We have all seen the emergence of GPS tracking and monitoring systems over recent years.  Ditto google and other forms of internet mapping sophistication and functionality.  It is seductive to fit the reps cars with such tracking systems to drive accountability and better planning.  With the fully loaded “cost of visit” often ranging between $200-300 across many B2B sales organisations, there is little room to “leave it up to the reps” to determine their routing and who they visit, how often, when and why.  I would argue that to do so is a conflict of interest …………….. subjectivity is bound to creep into the decision making.  Itinerary routing should be scientific, and data driven …………… and prescribed to the team members.

 

And so, it is like following a strict recipe, and buying the right ingredients accordingly.  State of the art, “sexy” mapping software will never be enough.  You need to collect the right data ………

 

  • Real or proxy data that represents the current value (sales margin contribution) and potential value (current value divided by share of wallet) across as much of your customer base and prospect pool as possible
  • Cost-of-sale and cost-to-serve data
  • Current and aspirational visit time range and median
  • Current and aspirational drive time range and median
  • As-is and to-be territory stats …. workload and km2; metro vs regional

 

Then what to do with the data?  Give us a call!

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