Categories: Advocate Relationship ManagementCOVID-19 Resource CenterWorkforce Management System

Alternative Ways in Managing Field Salesmen During Pandemic

Companies should start looking for alternative ways to manage field salesmen during this pandemic. With the social distancing protocol, a lot of field salesman operating areas are now being limited.

In a normal situation, a salesman can visit a store to offer products, to process and receive sales order payments as well as to monitor the product planogram/display in the store.

However, for now until the recovery period, salesman visits must be limited to reduce the spread of the virus. To protect the health of both shop owners and salesmen, whenever salesmen do visit the shop, they must wear protective equipment (PPE) such as masks, gloves and so on.

If the salesman cannot visit the store at all, the transaction can be done by telephone or text messaging application. However, this process is less efficient and prone to human error because transactions are not neatly recorded thus making it more difficult for supervisors to monitor activities.

Therefore, Advotics offers software solutions that integrate and automate the buying and selling process in the field. All company information is stored securely in the cloud where managers can get the most accurate information in real-time. By digitizing the buying and selling process, your supply chain network will continue to run smoothly and remain clearly monitored even during a pandemic.

Advotics – Workforce Management System

This mobile application is used by field salesmen to request sales orders, record survey responses, and document other data such as stock levels and up-to-date product’s retail prices. All transactions and activities are neatly recorded and automatically integrated into all connected devices. Supervisors and everyone on the layer of the supply chain network can now easily update and access information about products from their own mobile devices in real-time, even when working from home (WFH).

Advotics – Advocate Relationship Management

Aimed to reduce the number of salesman visits to shops, this mobile application is provided for shop owners aided by producers or distributors.

This application allows store owners to carry out self-service activities such as sales order requests, service orders, to planogram documentations. Now, shop owners can communicate directly, no longer only relying on the PIC or salesman visiting the store. This direct communication allows shop owners to escalate directly to the manufacturer or distributor.

To encourage shop owners to actively use this application, producers or distributors can offer incentives such as loyalty points and discount vouchers in exchange for any recorded activities. Store owners can get loyalty points every time they place an order or scan a proof of a purchase receipt. Earning points can increase the interest of shop owners to increase sales of these products.

In a way, manufacturers and distributors are now able to obtain data up to retail stores. This supports the visibility of activities and transactions in real time, where during this pandemic, changes very dynamically from time to time.

Visibility in retail store data is very important as it maintains the availability and competitiveness of products on the market, and captures the potential of the store as much as possible.

By using this solution, companies can now collect data to predict and adjust strategies to reflect the dynamic end-customer purchase patterns.