Put Your Sales Team First

Every company wants their sales team to be successful. Yet, many salespeople will tell you that their company often makes it difficult for them to meet their quotas by requiring them to do mundane administrative work to record their sales activity. Front Row Solutions has clearly demonstrated its ability to provide immediate value to the sales team by ensuring they have maximum selling time and providing tools to keep them efficient and up to date with all their clients thereby significantly increasing success rates.

 

Front Row's keys to ensuring you have a proficient sales team:

 

Arm your sales team with a 100% mobile system. Sales people spend their days in the field, so it's essential to give them remote access to critical customer and sales information. Be aware that mobility does not mean usability, and many apps are very difficult to use on a mobile device. Front Row has taken this into careful consideration when developing their mobile app which truly is usable from the field.

 

Employ a sales-oriented CRM system. A CRM system which is focused on the sales person will help your sales team be more organized and efficient, allowing them to spend more time in the field and make more sales. This is Front Row Solution's core value. Our motto "We Believe in the Sales Rep" shows our commitment to helping sales reps succeed.

 

These two keys benefit your sales team in four pivotal ways:

 

Stronger relationships. With historical and pertinent client information always available, the sales team becomes empowered with accurate insight on the buyers needs. This allows the rep to have more productive conversations with prospects that result in stronger, more personalized relationships. This helps to shorten sales cycles, increase the number of deals closed, and boost revenue per sale. 

 

Increased productivity. Substituting administrative tasks with completing a sales report in less than 30 seconds allows sales reps to put more attention onto what they (and the company want) - more sales. Sales reps will be able to spend more time and effort on activities that directly impact revenue and profits. By spending more time with potential customers, everyone benefits.

 

Best Practices. The Front Row system makes it easy to identify the actions and techniques that result in sales success. Proven sales processes can be easily integrated through the entire sales team. By perfecting established sales reps techniques, new sales reps can become effective much faster.

 

Enhanced Communication. Front Row Solutions changes sales managers from cheerleaders to coaches.Sales managers without information flow from the field can only cheer from the side lines. In order to be a coach you must have current information. An effective coach can ensure that sales reps are put in the best situation for sales success. 

New Version of the Front Row Sales Pro App

Front Row Solutions is excited to announce the launch of a new version of the Front Row Sales Pro App.

The new app continues the Front Row focus on the sales rep and adds features that our sales rep customers have been asking for. The new features can be divided into two categories: those focused on the business challenges that eat up so much time for these sales reps and those features focused on sales rep productivity and success. The new features focused on easing the day to day business chores are mileage tracking, expense management, task assignment and automated scheduling. The new productivity tools designed to improve sale rep performance include enhanced  prospecting, task and follow up notifications, access to email correspondence via the app, sales tracking and dashboard access, prospect auditing and more. Of special note is the client email access through the app. It was by far the most requested new feature and allows a sales rep to review all email correspondence with a client at any time . The new app allows each sales rep to use those features which are most advantageous to him/her. (see below for a full list of features on the new app)

The ultimate purpose of the new app is to continue to engage with the sales rep, drive user adoption, increase information flow and enhance performance.

For more information or to set up a demo, please contact me any time at etien@frontrowsolutions.com or visit our web site at  www.frontrowsolutions.com

What Top Sales Professionals Are Saying About Front Row

Top Sales World CEO Jonathan Farrington is “blown away” by Front Row Solutions CRM

When it comes to sales process tools I am far to be a "heat seeker" or a "tools nerd" Neither am I a Luddite. As long as I have what I need to make me as efficient as I can be, I am happy. However, every now and again I am persuaded to sit in on a demonstration and very, very occasionally I am impressed. That happened recently when Front Row's Etien D'Hollander asked if he could show me the advances he has made in "mobile CRM" Frankly - and sincerely - I was blown away. I actually told him that I could only dream about such a solution, when I was heading up sales teams. Really, really impressive.

Customized Key Information From a Sales Report

I got into a discussion with a new customer about the information they needed from their sales reps. Information that was critical to the success of their company. They are a bottled water company that sells water services to businesses across North America. He said what he needed from his sales reps was competitive contract expiry information. If we had that information he said we could begin a campaign at the appropriate time and go after that business. We have that information for less than 15% of our prospects. I suggested we add two questions into his Activity Card (A Front Row Activity card is a series of questions that a company creates that every sales rep answers after a sales call through the Front Row app on their mobile device).

The two questions we added were 1 a multiple choice questions “ which water company are you currently using” with these options.

Private Label

Dasani

Aqua Fina

Nestle

Glaceau

Poland Spring

Deer Park

Ozarku

Fiji

Other

And the second question with a calendar, “when does your current contract expire”.

These two questions were now front and center as part of their sales report and it became a constant reminder that this information was important to the success of the company.

Within six months the company had a huge data base of where every competitor was and the contract expiry information went from under 15% to over 60%. In addition we were able to provide management a report that showed the level of contract expiry information by sales rep which became a huge traing aid for they sales management group.

If knowing when a competitive contract expires is important to you contact us . We can help

Front Row Sales Pro

The Front Row app and system works by having a company create a series of questions that they would like their sales reps to answer after every sales call. We refer to this series of questions as the ‘sales activity card’. The development of the activity card has several advantages to both the sales rep and the management team.

For the sales rep, the activity card:

1) Provides a clear understanding as to what the company needs from the field.

2) Allows a sales rep to quickly and easily provide a sales report using the Front Row app.

3) Enables success tracking and prospect validation.

4) Provides automatic task assignment to sales support team.

5) Auto syncs with Google, outlook, and mobile calendars to provide clear follow up notification.

For the management team, the activity card:

1) Provides a clear picture of sales goals and company direction.

2) Standardizes the information from the field for better analytic's and KPI’s.

3) Improves accountability.

4) Supports the sales team with a tool focused on their sales reporting challenges.

From our data base of several hundred sales activity cards, here are the 6 most commonly asked questions:

1) How did you contact the customer?  By appointment, unscheduled drop in, phone call, email, web meeting, other.

This information provides insight into each sales rep’s preferred contact method, as well as close ratios and average sales amounts based on each contact method.

2) Who did you contact (could include name)? President, manger, owner, secretary, other manager, etc.

This question is industry specific and answers vary widely between industries. The information from this question ensures your sales reps are calling on the right people as well as identifying best practise and training needs.

3) What is the purpose of the sales call? Introduction, presentation, financial discussion, needs analysis, issue resolution, follow up, contract, etc.

Every sales call should have a purpose.  Make sure your sales reps understand what the purpose of each meeting is and what purposes are acceptable. From that point, track compliance, activity and results.

4) What was the result of the sales call?  Made a sale, not interested, needs more information, delayed purchase, budgeting etc.

From the result of each call, you can track and audit your clients and prospects while also providing solid information for best practise identification and training needs.

5)  What issues are holding the customer back?   Pricing, features, service, back-orders, warranty, competition etc.

This question can change your company and the answer is only available from input from your sales reps. Find out what your customers are saying about you. Is your pricing out of line, are your features weak, and is your service acceptable? Without this insight, companies are making decisions blindly.

6) When are you going to follow up? This question reminds the sales rep to book the follow up appointment which is automatically populated into the appropriate calendar for improved follow up compliance.

The Front Row system provides management with a view of each sales reps follow up calendar. The information provides insight into best practises and training needs.

These are the six most common questions from our activity card data base but there are hundreds more.  Other questions focus on forecasting, competitive activity, prospect development, marketing insight, products presented and so on. The questions can asked in any combination of free text, multiple choice, multiple answer, true and false, yes and no, alpha numeric, and calendar.

Feel free to create your own set of questions, and contact us to create an activity card and populate an app for you.

Success with Geo-location

As the Front Row Solution Company Success Manager, I have a unique insight into our customer’s success stories as well as the challenges they experience.

A key part of my role is to work with any new customer and help them create all the materials that we need to build and customize the Front Row system for their company. I am also heavily involved in training new users on the system, and getting them prepared prior to launch. After launch I will move the client over to our customer support team but only after I feel they are set up for success and am comfortable with their rep usage and compliance levels.

Post launch, I am always anxious to hear how our customers are using the system, and hear what successes they have – but I'm also interested in hearing from senior management and executives about what they think of our system. By talking with and forming strong relationships with senior managers, I am able to gain valuable insight into our opportunities to improve, but also hear a number of wonderful success stories. 

A recent conversation I had with an owner regarding the geo-location services or rep tracking is a great example. This owner has a growing business and is working on expanding his sales staff from 25 to 40 over the next year. When discussing functionality before launch, I asked about whether or not he would like to track his reps. I explained that this meant that we could show on a map where the rep is when a sales report is submitted from the field and compare where the actual account is. This makes it very easy to see how a sales rep is planning their day and if they are actually out in the field working vs. making sales calls from home.

Most high level sales people we work with love this feature as having an accountable rep is something they have never had before. This owner was adamant that this was a violation of privacy and absolutely not something he wanted to implement.

About 6 months post launch I had a call with the same owner and discussed a problem he had with unproductive new reps. These reps were not hitting sales goals and the owner didn't know if the reps were even out making the required number of daily sales calls. This owner had many calls with his sales managers about this problem and he didn’t know if it was a problem with the managers training their new staff, the products they are selling or with the new reps themselves.

Reluctantly, he decided to turn on the geo-location capabilities. This had an immediate and amazing impact on the information this owner was looking for. Just having the information he needed and never had before completely changed the outlook he had. Knowledge is power and the geo-location function gave him the ability to make informed and appropriate decisions regarding his staff.

This is one story that I like to relay to new customers about the type of information we can deliver and the positive changes we make for customers every day.

“Front Row-Solutions is the best CRM/reporting tool I have ever used and has had a significant positive impact on our company. Because of its ease of use and sales rep engaging features I get 100% compliance from my sales reps every day. With this incredible compliance, the information I get from the field is consistent and meaningful and my decision making is more relevant. Sales rep activity and productivity is up, revenue is up and profit is up.” –Michael Gaertner

By Michael D’Hollander

Sales Reporting From the Field Does Not Have to be Difficult

Sales reporting has always been a challenge for companies, a critical sales rep responsibility disparaged by most sales reps and made more difficult and challenging in today’s sophisticated CRM world.  

At Front Row our goal was to change that situation. We have built a sales reporting system and APP around the needs and attributes of the sales rep. The Front Row APP is fast and easy to learn and use and gives the sales rep the ability to complete and submit their sales report immediately after a sales call in less than 60 seconds. In addition we have added a number of features to the app that helps the sales rep be more effective and productive and thereby driving adoption. Front Row is currently running at a sales rep adoption rate of over 90% and we know we can achieve that same adoption rate for you and  your company. Information from the field is critical to a company’s success, it impacts decision making, client understanding, development needs, strengths and weaknesses and so much more. Join us in the Front row and let us help you achieve the success you are aiming for.

The picture below is a screen shot of the Front Row app as it appears on an Android phone. The balloons describe the features that sales reps use to improve their productivity and that have helped us achieve that 90 Plus adoption rate. The highlighted balloon is the most important component and is the unique Front Row reporting system that allows a sales rep to submit their sales report in less than 60 seconds. To take a closer look at the Front Row app or to try the unique Activity Card based reporting system please click here.

For more information or to set up a free trial please contact me anytime