“Inflation is as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber, and as deadly as a hit man”,– quotes Ronald Reagan, the 40th US President.
The rising prices of food, energy, and other basic amenities in the United States have been the talk of the world. Gas prices have been shaky for over a year now. A major reason for it is said to be inflation. This single word has been giving sleepless nights to the economic greats of the superpower. The inflation rate has gone down from 8.5 % in May 2022 to 4.02 % in May 2023 affecting the buying capacity of the people. The dollar’s value has descended in the global markets. This has increased uncertainty among business organizations. Spends have gone down, recruitments have frozen, and new launches and plans are scrapped or are on hold. A thoughtful business is on its way to chalk out a decent savings plan to be prepared for the rains.
In these uncertain times, here are 5 ways to armor up for the upcoming economic adventure.
60% of an organization’s field operations budget is spent on Fuel. So, let us concentrate on ways to make that sustainable!
Incorporating a Meeting Scheduler
An unscheduled day calls for impromptu meeting set-ups. This could shuffle the orders of the meetings in such a way that the rep may end up traveling long distances or spending more time. With planned calendars, the appointments of a particular region can be taken care of in a go, saving time and fuel. Maplytics, the 5-star rated app of the Microsoft AppSource could come in as a handy solution for this. Using its Auto-Scheduling feature, client appointments could be planned for days/ weeks in advance with a consideration of meeting duration, buffer time, travel time, lunch breaks, etc. With the meetings planned corresponding travel routes for these meetings too could be visualized on the map. Ad hoc changes to the schedule could also be accommodated with the app.
Appointing a Route Planner
Field reps travel a lot to distant places for client appointments. Many of the locations are new and directions aren’t known for the same. The reps lose their routes, need to backtrack, and waste considerable time and gas in the bargain. This could be avoided using the Route Optimization feature of Maplytics. Optimized travel routes with turn-by-turn navigation directions could be plotted and utilized by the field reps. The routes plotted in this manner avoid traffic, highways, tolls, etc., and are shortest in terms of travel time or distance. These routes can also be saved for future use and modified to accommodate ad hoc appointments or changes.
Travel routes can also be plotted for the delivery trucks carrying expensive, inflammable, inventory over longer distances.
Using Proximity Search
At times the reps are in a new region for planned appointments and have time at hand. The scheduled appointments are either delayed, canceled, or postponed. The reps can utilize this extra time at hand and the efforts involved in reaching the location by using the Radius/ Proximity Search feature of Maplytics. They could input their current location and search for clients/ new leads around, check their availability, and set up ad hoc meetings with them, thus, being productive.
Field reps in new areas also feel a need to find gas stations, cafes, airports, etc. that are near their place of interest. POI Location Search can be used to find these places nearby and the travel routes to reach the same too can be plotted, saved, emailed, and printed.
Finding leads along the Route
There might be new leads and clients on the planned routes that the rep is traveling on. In case a meeting ends early, or the rep has time at hand, he could accommodate an appointment with any of them that are available and utilize their travel efforts further by increasing productivity.
Live Tracking of Resources
Emergencies arise untold and so do client urgencies. Staying connected at all times is a blessing in such situations. The field reps can be quickly rescued from emergencies or could be redirected to resolve client requirements without wasting much time. The real-time Tracking feature of Maplytics could be utilized to the optimum for the same and the field presence of the rep could be enhanced further. Maximum output could be achieved from every field travel.
There could be many more applications of Maplytics that could help combat Inflation. A little research and a lot of exploring could help in the same. To get more acquainted and experience it first-hand, one can write to crm@inogic.com To investigate the product further, with a personalized demo within Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM / Dataverse get in touch with the Team.
For applied knowledge, do visit our Website or Microsoft AppSource. One can hop on to our detailed Blogs, Client Testimonials, Success Stories, Industry Applications, and Video Library for a quick query resolution.
Until then,
Happy Mapping!
