OPTIMIZATION OF EFFICIENCY IN THE ORGANIZATION

Sales force is often a large and expensive part of an organization. It goes without saying that each of us would like it to be as efficient as possible at the lowest cost, i.e. simply effective. Efficiency gives you a competitive advantage. This pursuit of efficiency improvement can be obtained by optimizing it, a process which IQ Solution divides into territory and route optimization.

Optimization applies to many aspects of sales force operations:

• how to reach customers (frequency and duration of visits),
• division of service into various distribution channels,
• the number of representatives needed to properly service all clients,
• geographical construction of territories,
• locations of sales representatives,
• daily work plans that are implemented by representatives.

Usually, each of these elements has already been more or less precisely defined in the organization. We also know that each of them can be improved, i.e. optimized. The question is why we should change the way our sales force works? What can we gain?

Most common benefits for organizations which cooperate with IQ Solution include:

• Improved and more transparent rules for visiting customers. We know exactly how often and how long we want to visit each of our clients. Thanks to this, we know what to expect from sales representatives.
• We know exactly that our goals are realistic to achieve. We measured it by creating precise work plans, day by day, minute by minute.
• Our employees do not have to tediously create work plans (routes). A human is not a computer and is unable to create an optimal work schedule. Even if the territory is small and uncomplicated, it will take them much more time than the computer, plus some sales representatives may plan it better and some worse.
• The number and range of geographical territories is tailored to our strategy of reaching customers. There are no overloaded territories and there are no territories where the sales representative has nothing to do. Each territory has a specific working time. The working time includes the visit time and the travel time.
• We gain free time that can be spent on visiting more customers or revisiting the most profitable ones.

Profits?

It all depends on the scale. Optimization can free up to 10-20% of work time. For a sales force of 30 sales representatives, this means (for 10% savings) the opportunity to achieve our business goals with fewer jobs. The free work time can be spent on a larger number of visits, which will generate additional profits.

Is it worth implementing optimization in our organization?

The answer to this question is simple: it’s always worth it. However, the organization is not always ready for it. Optimization works under two conditions: we are able to define well the way to reach our customers (frequencies, times, etc.), and the sales representatives are ready to implement the work plans provided to them at a high level.