Revolutionizing Sales Operations with Assistive Field CRM Solution: A Case Study of Tata Swach

Tata Swach, the flagship water purifier product of Tata Chemicals, faced hindrances in managing and boosting General Trade (GT) sales due to the lack of a robust Field Force Automation solution. They required a field CRM solution with features such as daily order capture, order fulfillment tracking, merchandising activity tracking, market visit tracking, and an interactive dashboard for sales and ASE productivity tracking.

That’s when they were looking for a field CRM solution which will have all the following features:

• Capture daily orders by Area Sales Executives
• Capture order fulfillment details at the retailer level
• Track merchandising activities at the outlets
• Add new outlets directly from the app
• Track market visits done by the ASMs
• Provide an interactive and customizable dashboard to track sales and ASE productivity.
  

Approach

In this project, the client's requirements were not fully met by a single solution. However, with numerous configuration options and standardized workflows available in Assistive CRM, we were able to effectively utilize those options and make minor customizations for a quick roll-out. The following were the key activities in project execution:

• Conducted multiple meetings with key stakeholders to understand their concerns with the sales force and their requirements.
• Quickly implemented the customized solution, ensuring an intuitive mobile app workflow for the sales force.
• Uploaded all master data, such as product hierarchy, SKU pricing, and retailer database.
• Implemented geo-tagged and time-stamped Order Capture, Order Fulfillment, and Visual Merchandising modules for the Area Sales Executives (ASEs).
• Implemented a Market Working module for the Area Sales Managers (ASMs).
• Conducted sales team training through web conferencing in small batches to ensure effective training sessions.
• Developed an interactive dashboard to show ASE productivity, coverage, product-wise sales, retailer-wise sales, etc.
• Implemented automated email-based reports on key parameters to measure daily ASE productivity.
• Closely monitored user activity to quickly address usability issues and constraints, leading to a rapid adoption of the system.

Outcome

After the successful implementation of the Assistive CRM solution, the sales team could report relevant data from retail outlets without any hassle, and the client gained complete visibility and insight into its sales operations all across India for the General Trade channel, which is always difficult to track and manage compared to Modern Trade. The key highlights of the outcome are as follows:

• There was a significant improvement in discipline and process compliance of the sales force.
• Within three months, there were significant improvements in all key performance parameters, such as Daily Visits, Productive Calls, and Time Spent in the Market.
• More than 5000 new retail GT outlets were added in 320 cities.
• Visible improvements were noticed in overall sales volume.
• Fulfillment issues were quickly identified to initiate necessary actions.
• There was an increasing number of market visits by ASMs resulting in a positive improvement of many aspects that directly impact sales.
• Top retailers across states were identified and rewarded.
• Email-based performance reports and SMS alerts ensured quick actioning as and when required.
• The interactive and insightful dashboard provided complete visibility on sales team productivity, order volume, retailer database, and high-selling models.

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