Importance of a Sales Force Automation solution in any sales organization is no longer a topic to be debated on. Be it a large team or a smaller one, companies have either already adopted an SFA solution or in the process of doing so. It’s a no brainer that if implemented rightly, it not only enhances productivity of the sales team, but also provides major input for many strategic decisions to be taken up by the company. But the last ‘if’ is an important one and deserves some serious thinking. As per some independent researches, failure rate of such implementations is alarmingly high – anything between 50% to 70% depending on the geography.... (read more)

With the increasing stability and affordability of mobile devices, the question of whether a sales organization needs SFA solution has been settled. Every sales organization, big or small, needs an application to track the day-to-day activities of their sales force. More often than not organizations deploy a third party SFA tool with proven credentials, our own 1Channel being a leading example. Smaller organizations only have to evaluate the tools available in the market to make a decision. When it comes to larger organizations though there is an additional angle to the decision owing to their large size and legacy sales processes which need... (read more)

One of the most sought after feature in a Sales Force Automation tool is location tracking. It is also a very controversial feature as it invariably faces backlash from the field force. In this post we cover the biggest benefits to an organization and its employees of tracking locations. PJP compliance and Data accuracy Lets get the biggest out of the way. The most obvious benefit of location tracking is to ensure that the data being reported through the tool is accurate and that the field force is complying with the PJP (Permanent Journey Plan) created in the system. The organization stands to benefit immensely from this as this ensures... (read more)

The biggest complaint I hear from almost all the companies we meet in the course of our business is about the challenge of managing their field sales teams. These teams of TSEs, TSIs, SOs, ASMs etc. are a significant asset for most companies, and they are willing to do what it takes to make them work at their highest potential. Companies run fancy programs that involve foreign travel, CEO Clubs, parties and celebrations and what not – and still fret that their teams have a low performance. I’ve interacted with the managers and field teams of hundreds of companies, and my company Channelplay has the experience of managing thousands of field... (read more)