Competition is fierce and overpopulation is rampant. We struggle to survive, rushing from work to home, eating on the go, and caring for our children. Even in crowded subways, we plan our day ahead, our minds racing with tasks to be done.

In this ordinary life, mental peace and self-care are often neglected. Some people can enjoy a bit of leisure on the weekends, but many have responsibilities and chores to attend to even then. Many professions are very demanding, some requiring a lot of physical exertion, some offering only sedentary work, and some even posing a threat to life.

What makes a good employer in today’s world?

In demanding work environments, it is a blessing to have an understanding employer. They may not offer higher salaries or rapid promotions, but they can still be supportive by granting leave for period cramps, understanding traffic delays, allowing male employees to work from home when their children are sick, noticing employee stress and offering vacations, or simply not contacting employees outside of work hours. These basic expectations are a must-have for every employee, but they can feel like a blessing in today’s world.

The Beautiful Life of Field Sales and Services Employees

Field representatives are professionals who travel to clients to sell products or services, renew contracts, resolve technical issues, install or upgrade products, fix fixtures, and handle complaints. They spend most of their day (80%) on the field. Their job can be stressful and demanding, but it is also rewarding.

• They travel through the traffic, fight through the changing seasons, bear harsh weather, struggle with transport at times, accommodate impromptu requests, and so on.
• Very often, in unorganized operational setups, the days of the reps are not pre-planned.
• Many times, they need to rush back to the office after a meeting to share a report on the meeting they had.

Field representatives face a lot of stress and pressure. When employers fail to plan, manage, and care for their employees, it can be difficult to stay motivated.

What could be the bare minimum steps an employer could take to mitigate the situation? Let’s find out!

1. Following an Appointment Schedule

Field reps’ schedules can be planned in advance. Set appointments, allocate time slots, and schedule lunch, coffee, travel, traffic, and buffer time. With work orders in hand, plan reps’ schedules for upcoming weeks.

For international travel, book tickets, make reservations, and schedule meeting places in advance for all stakeholders.

This will free up reps’ schedules for personal time and planning. Maplytics’ Auto Scheduling feature is ideal to achieve this!

2. Having defined work territories

Field reps tend to cannibalize each other’s work areas with improper planning and organization. This leads to internal conflict and unsuccessful sales leads. To salvage the situation, sales regions could be divided into effective and balanced sales territories.

A rep allotted to a region would work in it and be responsible for its lead conversion. Thus, the internal competition and stress would be mitigated and streamlined.

3. Using a Driving Route Planner

Traveling around the city all day in traffic and during rush hour is painful anywhere in the world, let alone doing it every day. To motivate field reps to take on this challenge, employers can plot optimized travel routes for their scheduled meetings.

These routes should be the shortest in terms of distance or time, and avoid traffic, tolls, and highways whenever possible. It should also be possible to reroute the plotted routes to accommodate ad hoc requests, and driving directions should be provided.

Effective Route Optimization is the need of the hour!

4. Providing faster Assistance

Field reps often need help with unexpected questions, technical issues, and equipment. Assistance should be available online and offline, 24/7. To achieve this, the field reps are often tracked in real-time. Thus, knowing their whereabouts makes summoning the right help easy and quick!

5. Doing informed ad hoc additions

Field reps often receive urgent spot requests that need to be addressed immediately. Employers should schedule time for field reps to handle these requests regularly and inform reps about additions to their schedules in advance. The additions if within the proximity of the rep’s current location would be ideal!

6. Free decision making

Give field reps the power to make their own decisions about their schedules, assistance needs, and travel routes. This will make them feel responsible, independent, and reliable. A responsible rep wants to be informed, not controlled.

These are just a few tips, but there is much more to consider. Every employee, employer, office culture, business, organization, and work environment is different, so a plan must be tailored to the specific needs and situation. In short, one size does not fit all.

What’s More?

The unique features of Maplytics could be experienced when explored more with a trial. One can write to the Team at crm@inogic.com for mapping requirements, a free trial of 15 days, or a personalized demo within Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM / Dataverse.

To learn more about Maplytics, its applications across industries, and another multitude of features, do visit the Website or the Microsoft AppSource. For further details, one can hop on to the Blogs, Client Testimonials, Success Stories, Industry Applications, and Video Library for a quick query resolution.

Until then,

Stay motivated!