Sales Force Automation for a new FMCG brand in Tamil Nadu
Lanson Group, one of the leading and renowned business house based out of Chennai, ventured into FMCG domain in April 2018 with launch of Popodax, a ready-to-eat snack. One of the things that the top management was very particular about was rolling out a cutting-edge Sales Force Automation solution for its field sales team right from the launch of the brand. And that is why they started evaluating different cloud-based SFA options more than six months prior to the launch of the new brand keeping in mind the following objectives:
- Ensuring discipline of the field sales team in terms of retailer visits and working hours
- Real-time visibility of secondary orders
- Tracking retailer stock and order fulfilment status
- Quick expansion in different parts of Tami Nadu with new outlet addition
- Easy and quick access to different measurement metrics of the sales team
Approach
After completion of a long and detailed evaluation process, client decided to go-ahead with Assistive as its preferred SFA vendor. Go-live was due within a week and benefits of a completely config driven system was best realized by the client during the implementation. The system was live on the seventh day and the sales team were sitting in a room in Chennai to undergo training of Assistive SFA App. Some of the key steps taken to meet client’s end objective are as follows:
- Existing retailer base was uploaded and all six SKUs were created with pricing
- Close to 200 beats were created to cater to different parts of the state
- Different mobile app workflows were configured for Sales Officers and Key Account Executives
- Daily Attendance, Order, Stock Capture, Order Fulfilment and Add Outlet were the some of the basic features configures in the app
- Exhaustive trainings were conducted to ensure no hiccups post launch
- Different reports and dashboards were created to track basic data such as Secondary Order, current Stock etc. and, also to get insights on first billing, repeat billing, total calls, productive calls, distance travelled etc.
- Regular progress report in terms of system usage was shared with client to drive the adoption
Outcome
Successful implementation of Assistive SFA yielded significant results for the company within three months of going live. The key highlights are as follows:
- Total penetration crossed more than 10,00 outlets within one month of go-live
- Regular tracking of key insights and important performance metrics ensured a much more disciplined and productive sales force on the field
- Real-time visibility of order volume helped in deciding future growth plans
- With planned market visit and activity reporting through app for SOs and KAEs, relationship with retailers and distributors were improved significantly
- Benefits realized by a great SFA solution helped client to decide same SFA solution should be used by ASMs also for their regular market visits
- Overall impact was a successful product launch with healthy automation process which opened up the possibility of future product launches and bigger success in this market
