In our Part 1 of this series, we explored how a Sales Manager can use Maplytics to get the most out of the Dynamics CRM data.
The Part 2 of this blog series dived deep into how a Marketing Manager can use Maplytics creating and working with targeted Marketing Lists to improve Sales Pipeline, find nearby Points of Interest (POI) like Hotels, Restaurants, Exhibition Centers and more to determine the best location for hosting successful events, create successful email campaigns to promote the event either using a third-party add-on like ClickDimensions or use the ‘Send Email’ mass action in Maplytics to send emails directly from the map screen.
In this blog, we will see how the Sales Reps can use Maplytics to collaborate with the Sales Manager and improve overall sales productivity of the organization.
Maplytics Workflow for a Sales Rep
For Sales Reps, managing appointments and time on the field is exceptionally crucial as effective time management on the field results in increased on-time performance, customer experience, and better closure rate. These things eventually result in increased revenue along with effective sales resource management.
Sales Insights through Insightful Map Dashboards in Dynamics CRM
The first step for the Sales Reps is to go through intuitive and insightful map dashboards to understand the priorities for the day and also get updates on sales.
For this scenario, we have created a custom ‘Maplytics Overview – Sales Reps’ dashboard.
Note: To create your own Maplytics Dashboards; please refer to this article.
In the first dashboard, ‘My Appointments,’ the Sales Rep can see all of the Appointments planned for the day further color coded based on Priority. The Sales Rep can then hover over a particular appointment to see the Subject of the Appointment or click on it for more information about the appointment.
The second dashboard is a Route Activity Dashboard showing ‘My Today’s Route’ as default. This is where the Sales Rep can see all the assigned routes that were assigned by the Sales Manager. If the Sales Rep saves any other route for the day, even that would be shown here. This dashboard gives a brief idea about the route like the No. of Waypoints, Route Distance, and Travel Time. We will open and see the action the Sales Rep can take on this route after covering all the dashboards.
The third dashboard, ‘My Open Opportunities,’ provides the Sales Rep a view of all the assigned open opportunities further color coded based on Estimated Revenue.
Then the last dashboards is a heat map visualizations of ‘Sales by Postal Code’ which provides the Sales Rep with at glance information of which areas are performing well regarding Sales.
Share Optimized Routes to Improve Route Management in Dynamics CRM
Now, let’s get back to the route assigned to the Sales Reps.
The Route Dashboard is a great way to get updates on the routes assigned to the Sales Rep.
When the Sales Rep clicks on the route records, the saved route activity record will open.
This route activity record will have more information about the shared route. The Sales Rep can have a look at all the waypoints added to the route and also open the respective record on clicking on any waypoint to get more information about the customers.
The route activity record also contains the route parameters like whether the route was optimized, route distance, number of waypoints and other details.
The Sales Rep can use the ‘Plot Route’ button in the ribbon to directly plot the route on the map.
The Sales Rep can add other waypoints to this route if there any pre-scheduled meeting. The Sales Rep can also update the saved route by using the ‘Open Saved Routes,’ search for the saved route and clicking on Update to keep the Sales Manager in the loop about the changes to the route.
Now, let us consider a scenario where one of the Appointment is canceled.
Here, the Sales Rep has two options. The Sales Rep can either use the Proximity Search feature to find nearby records in single or multiple proximity values.
Note:
To learn more about Proximity Search feature, refer to the below articles.
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Find Nearby Customers in Multiple Proximities with Concentric Proximity Search in Dynamics 365
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Search for Accounts or Leads in Dynamics 365 based on Travel Time
Another option is Along the Route Search, which will plot all the records in the defined proximity along the route.
Once the Sales Rep has decided the record to add to the route, the route can then be updated using the Open Saved Route option mentioned before.
Now, the Sales Manager can efficiently manage time and appointments for the day and also visit some more customers, all of which will eventually improve the Sales Performance.
Maplytics is a leading geo-analytical app for Dynamics 365 and is one of the first mapping solutions to be Certified for Microsoft Dynamics 365 (CfMD). Maplytics provides powerful map visualization and routing capabilities within Dynamics 365 to offer insightful location-based business insights. By using the powerful feature of Maplytics like Appointment Planner, Route Optimization, Proximity Search based on Distance and Time, Concentric Proximity Search based on Distance, Along the Route Search, Analytical Dashboards, and Territory Mapping & Management, an organization can drive better sales, improve business processes and engage right customers at the right time.
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Happy Mapping!
