4 Things to Look for in a Quality Sales Route Planner

Do you work in outside sales? Then you are likely to know that success in your job demands both efficiency and organization in planning your sales activity.

Outside salespeople do everything that inside salespeople do and more. However, because they are often on the road they tend to lack time in the office and computer access to do specific tasks such as entering data from a sales meeting, scheduling meetings, and following up with prospective leads.

That poses challenges, and it is challenging in and of itself to know what you are looking for in a solution. A quality sales route planner not only works to address these problems but can also help your sales figures in many different ways.

If used correctly, a route planner can make your day a lot simpler, but the wrong route planning is usually more trouble than it is worth.

As such, you need to choose the solution that fits your specific needs as an outside sales representative. Making the wrong decision means you will only end up wasting the most important resource you have in outside sales, which is time.

Fortunately, a good route planning application can help your team as well. When you incorporate all of your field sales needs into a single app, you can enhance your focus on what is essential, which is making sales.

What Makes a Good Sales Route Planner?

When looking for a sales route planner, it is important that you know exactly what you are looking for.

Cross-functionality, advanced route planning features, the ability to create categories and filters, and CRM integration are some of the top functions you should look for in a route planning app.

1. Accessible Across Devices

Your route planning solution needs to have cross-functionality and should be accessible on your phone, tablet, and laptop.

This enables you to pick up where you left off, no matter where you are. Planning a route earlier on your computer and then being able to transfer it to your phone saves you both time and money.

2. Advanced Route Planning Features

Are you only using Apple Maps, Waze, or Google Maps to map your sales routes? Then you are losing a lot of money.

Basic GPS apps like those are amazing from getting from one point to another. But they falter when it comes to optimizing a route that has multiple destinations, some of which may not be near each other.

Time is the most important resource for field salespeople, and you must use it smartly. You will have more face-to-face time with your clients and less driving time in your car once your sales routes are optimized.

3. Categories and Filters

As you close more deals and boost your client base, prioritization will become important. Thus, your route planner should account for the increase in customers.

A lack of correct categorization means you may miscategorize great clients as good ones and good clients as valueless leads.

The solution to your concern is to find a routing app that enables you to prioritize your clients in the best way.

Visualizing your clients using colors and other filters on the planner is important and should be done by important sales metrics such as sales stage and revenue generation amount, which offers you better control over your sales strategy.