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Considerations for FMCG Management when implementing a market coverage strategy.

Gaining market coverage is the backbone of any FMCG company and isn’t an easy task without a thorough strategy, the correct resources and the right skillset within your field sales professionals. With field sales professionals being responsible for feeding information back to management team as well as educating retailers about products, their position is pivotal in FMCG sales and success.

At the core, field sales professionals relay to management influential details relating to consumer behaviors at POS, consumer influence and feedback. The accuracy of this relay of information and their ability to foster relationships with clients is ultimately the foundation of your operations, so what can FMCG management be doing to support this?

Sell the Full Picture

The influx of technology has meant that consumer behavior is changing more rapidly by the second. Because of this, consumers demand predictability. They no longer want to invest in something they aren’t guaranteed results. This is primarily due to the overwhelming amount of data availability and sales forecasting tools at business’ fingertips. It’s no longer enough to provide a selling scenario without the data to back it up.

By supporting field sales professionals with technology that lays out what a FMCG company has to offer, retailers and consumers get a clear picture of:

·       Potential opportunities

·       Predicted ROI

·       Your current workflow system

·       Industry-specific expectations

By investing in the right software, FMCG companies also benefit by gaining better visibility of their own team and therefore increased productivity in collaboration with their field sales professionals and retailers.

Out-do your competitors with service

FMCG sales is so much more than sales. Your sales professionals are fostering relationships and educating more than anything else. Taking the time to execute a competitor analysis and ask consumers the right questions means they feel valued and gives insight into how FMGC companies can better service them. 

A study conducted among 155 brands found that where servicing in FMCG companies was lower, these brands performed as little as 81% of their average. Whereas in a situation where servicing was higher than that of competitors, brands performance increased as much as 1.2 times the national average.

The goal is to increase market coverage, so if you’re not outdoing your competitors, you’re already losing.

Workflow Management tools

For field sales professionals to put their best foot forward, providing them easy access to workflow management is non-negotiable. Not to mention as FMGC companies expand, the increase in work order volume creates numerous challenges that will quickly demand a change in process.

By providing field sales professionals workflow software that shows a transparent overview of what occurs within a FMCG companies work order management system it:

·       Improves customers satisfaction as they know what to expect

·       Reduces error

·       Accelerates error resolution

Become the solution

Today, consumers demand convenience. Having the resources and know-how to analyse a market’s requirements, identify a problem that might be occurring/an opportunity consumers may be missing and then strike when it’s hot, is a skill that’s not easy to master.

Invest in research and productive networking that will heighten decision-making. In turn, field sales professionals will be set up for success and overall sales effectiveness will see a drastic increase. Attempting to sell to someone without doing the research not only puts a sour taste in consumers and retailers’ mouths, but also stipends confidence from the FMCG perspective.