Ajeet Godara, a first-generation entrepreneur, the son of a kinoo farmer decided he wanted to do more than just farming. Along with his brother, Ajeet started Natureland Organics, a food brand that offers honest, organically grown food items to its customers. Today the brand has tied up with more than 32,000 farmers across the country to serve health-conscious customers in India and overseas.
However, it was not easy for them to expand their presence from Sri Ganganagar, a small town in Rajasthan, to the rest of the country. One of the biggest challenges the Godara brothers faced was scaling up their business. Competition in the organic foods space was growing, and without the right technology, they could not get market visibility on
- What was selling where?
- Which products had more demand?
- Which products were not selling well?
- What’s their share of the shelf compared to competitors?
So as a growing SME FMCG company, they became early adopters of a Sales software to improve their sales productivity.
A key reason why similar region-based family-run brands show bigger ambitions is that the next generation is taking charge. Tech-savvy and forward-thinking, they are happy to invest in technology and processes to boost business efficiency. As Sanjesh Thakur, partner, Deloitte India adds, “ “Their keenness to invest in tech sales enablement and sales force automation is way higher than 3-4 years ago.”
Whether it’s an established FMCG company or a consumer goods start-up, nearly all of them now consider having some sort of a sales software for FMCG SMEs as a standard element in their Sales Strategy. This helps them improve on-field productivity and keep a constant pulse on the market.
If you too are looking to deploy sales force automation for your consumer goods brand, here are some of the things you need have to make sure you get the most out of your SFA App
1. Business-first approach
A good sales force automation company should consider the brand’s perspective when developing a solution. This approach keeps the SFA app providers aligned with the business strategies of customers. If you are a growing SME FMCG brand, ask questions to assess whether the product caters to the majority of your requirements.
For example, a startup FMCG brand in Rajkot was looking for a solution that could help them assess in real-time which retailer scheme was performing better than others during the Navratri festival so that they could promote the same scheme in different towns and cities. FieldAssist was able to give them the perfect sales application where they had the performance of each scheme, each salesperson and each territory at their fingertips.
2. User Friendly Sales App
When emerging SME FMCG companies choose a sales order application – SFA solution, ease of use should be kept as a high priority. After all, the sales application will primarily be used by frontline salespeople who typically do not have advanced technical skills. If the sales order app is difficult to use, it will become frustrating for the salesmen to use it. In fact, there have been times when a few frustrated salesmen left their company because they didn’t want to use an sales order app they did not understand.
On the other hand, an easy-to-use sales order application for FMCG SMEs with simple navigation and flow can help salespeople realize that SFA app is a tool that increases their productivity and efficiency. A good user-friendly app like the FA App simplifies tasks, reduces the time taken for doing repetitive tasks, and empowers sales teams to do more in less time.
3. Best Practices & Industry expertise
As FMCG has unique sales processes, a salesforce automation solution partner must be able to offer a solution that resolves those unique challenges. There are many SFA app providers who offer a standard, non-customizable solution that addresses many, but not all of the sales challenges that SME FMCG companies face when they are scaling up. In the last decade, FieldAssist has built deep expertise in the FMCG space by engaging with numerous industry experts and working closely with over 600 FMCG brands.
With access to industry best practices and understanding key performance indicators (KPIs) that brands like to monitor, we have created a Sales Force Automation (SFA) solution that fits perfectly with what FMCG companies need. Our tailored SFA software helps growing FMCG businesses like yours boost sales, grow faster, and achieve your targets more easily.
For example, a regional SME FMCG company from Lucknow may have requirements unique to its product category or geography. A full-service SFA app providers like FieldAssist will continuously collaborate with you to deliver capabilities and features that add value to your business.
4. Handholding At Every Step
A majority of SFA app providers offer training, call centre support etc. But only a few technology companies for sales software for SMEs really walk the entire journey with you.
At FieldAssist, our commitment is to be with you every step of the way, handholding the adoption journey across all stakeholders. We offer not just training and support but also hands-on guidance throughout your journey, whether it is training your sales team on our solutions, handling real-time queries from your team in the field or working closely with sales managers to understand how we can streamline and optimise your sales processes even further.
At FieldAssist, having a seasoned team of account managers makes sure that the adoption levels are high and that usage levels of the sales application stay consistent in the field. If you are looking for an SFA software for SME businesses, select one where the team is strong, understands your challenges and can successfully deliver the right resolution.
5. Future Readiness of your Sales Force Automation
Choosing a Sales Force Automation and SFA software is like starting a long-term partnership, so it’s important to pick a partner that can grow with you. Many SFA software can’t handle bigger operations and stop being useful once your business gets to a certain size and complexity. Therefore, you need a partner who can expand its services as your business grows.
FieldAssist offers a a whole suite of solutions to assist you as you grow and evolve. Our sales order application cater to multiple stakeholders in your sales and distribution ecosystem, allowing you to scale up efficiently and seamlessly. For instance, the FA Battleground module gamifies your field sales, AI-powered features simplify the growing complexity of your sales process, and the FA Beatometer module gives you better visibility and traction on your retailer universe.
With these solutions, you can be confident that as you grow, FieldAssist has the capabilities to scale up and match pace with you. For us, our commitment goes beyond deploying our solution; it includes helping you be ‘Future Ready’, and growing your business from 0-10 to 10-100 and more.
Whether you choose us or a different sales software for FMCG SMEs, rest assured that it is going to give you valuable insights into your customers. So you need to focus on only one thing- how to maximise your relationship with your SFA app partner. And leave the rest to your partner.
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