Making customer visits is an essential part of a good sales strategy for traveling salespeople. It enables them to keep in touch with existing customers while prospecting for potential customers in the same areas.
It’s a complex process, but with the right planning and application, sales teams and independent sales representatives can make the most of every day in the field.
What is a customer visit?
A customer visit consists in going to visit a customer in order to maintain commercial relations with him or her. This is an important process for all traveling sales representatives. Good planning enables sales reps to deal with opportunities at the right time.
What is the purpose of a customer visit?
Whatever the market or sector, travelling sales representatives generally encounter the same problems:
- The difference between reality and the information entered in the customer portfolio, leading to poor exchanges in the field and over the phone.
- A change in the methods and technologies used by prospects and customers, leading to a misunderstanding of needs and a loss of opportunities.
- Unnecessary customer visits due to customers not being available, or because the visit was simply pointless.
A customer visit will enable you to assess the customer’s situation and understand their expectations and desires for the future of your business relationship. You’ll be able to get feedback on the orders the customer has placed, as well as their level of satisfaction. So it’s a good idea to make regular customer visits… without, of course, going overboard!
How do you plan customer visits?
To save time and be as efficient as possible, you need to rely on technology.
Whether you use an Excel file or maps to plan your routes manually, or whether you use a tour optimization software/application, having a good sales tour planning tool for yourself and your team can save time and optimize customer follow-up.
Use a contact management system :
Managing your contacts is the key to a successful sales round.
You can either use an Excel file or CRM software to list your contacts, their addresses and contact details. Categorize your contacts according to their position in your sales cycle, the sales revenue they have already generated, changes from previous periods and the tasks assigned to them.
Map your customers:
To be effective, you need to know where your customers are. You need to use a mapping tool to put them on a map so you can have a visual view of where your contacts are. You can use Google Maps points of interest, or use an application like Moovago to keep track of your customers’ locations.
Sort your contacts:
In your contact portfolio, you need to identify factors to determine which contacts to prioritize. For example, those who bring you the highest sales revenue, or those you haven’t seen in a long time. You’ll need to plan your round around these priority contacts. Using your mapping tool, identify the contacts you can visit in the same area and fill in the time between your appointments by visiting other, lower-priority contacts or by prospecting. Try to carry out continuous prospecting while paying attention to your existing customers.
Keep your customer portfolio up to date:
Once you’ve completed your round, be sure to keep the information in your Excel file or customer portfolio application up to date.
It’s essential to have all your information up to date, so you can analyze the situation properly and plan future rounds. You can also note when people you’ve seen have told you to come back or call them back.
How to choose the right customer visit software / application?
The best software for you is likely to be different from that of another organization. This software will have to meet the needs of your business. To do this, determine and list the main problems you and your sales team face every day:
- Are you missing out on opportunities because your salespeople have booked appointments with the wrong customers?
- Do you sometimes have to readjust your sales rounds completely because customers have cancelled?
- Are you missing out on your objectives because you don’t have all the information on your sector?
Based on the criteria of you and your team, you must choose the software’s main features:
- Route planning
- Suggest the most interesting appointments
- Interactive map
- Customer portfolio management
- Customer reminders
Determining which features are important will enable you to make the right choices, save time and therefore generate more sales revenue.
What's the best software for organizing customer visits?
We advise you to use the Moovago application, specially designed for traveling sales reps. This application lets you track your customers visually, using a map.
You’ll be able to create and optimize routes directly in the cloud-based application. What’s more, the French application brings together all the tools used by sales reps: reports, reminders, reminders, tasks, appointments and sales revenue.
Thanks to reminders, you’ll know which companies to visit, and you can also choose your route according to sales revenue opportunities.
This French application lets you create sales round plans and optimize routes. It also lets you manage the sales rep’s customers.
Other resources : How to organize your sales mapping?