Ten reasons why FMCG companies need Mobile Sales Force Solutions more than ever:- 1. Reduce reliance on distributors Traditionally FMCG companies have relied heavily on distributors for pushing up sales and pushing new products into the market. The approach was to pile up inventories at distributors and stockists and the sales will take care of themselves. This doesn't work anymore! Distributors have become wary of such tactics. With the competition heating up in the Indian market, distributors have options of changing companies. 2. Improve Sales Team performance Field sales staff need to have data on their tips to communicate with the market. Readily available data like prices, schemes, contact details of retailers, etc can help them utilize their time so they can focus on their code activity i.e selling. Head Office can push new products catalogs to sales reps even before the products are launched. This enables them to gather market feedback even before the first prototype is ready. 3. Real-Time data Mobile Sales Force Automation solutions can help FMCG companies in gathering real-time data. So, when Sales heads want to push a new product or scheme into the market, they can get the feedback within a couple of days rather than a month. 4. Secondary Sales data Secondary sales data is needed by FMCG companies to forecast demand. In the current scenario, a distributor places orders to a company after they receive the secondary orders. With a mobile SFA, the company can get to know the market demand before the distributor/stockists places primary order. 5. Cross-sell and up sell The company can use the secondary data collected to cross-sell or upsell products to retailers. This is very valuable in a competitive market. 6. Expand to newer markets Expanding to newer markets becomes a breeze. The company headquarters can now track and manage the salesperson without an additional overhead of managerial layers. This is significant for smaller companies who want to control their cost of sales. 7. Connect to retailers Companies can connect to the retailers directly. Until now, it was almost impossible for the company to have up to date contact details of the retailers. Now a salesman can punch in all the details of the retailers into the mobile SFA app. 8. Track merchandising activities Merchandising activities can be tracked and managed by taking photographs from the Mobile SFA app. Merchandising becomes very important in modern trade where the company needs to make sure that the right product facings, as well as stock, are available. This is needed to stand out from the competition. 9. Track stock at distributor/stockists/retailers Sales Rep can punch in stock details held at the distributor/stockist or retailer level. This can help companies to decide on their material planning objectives and help maintain optimum inventories. 10. Micro market analytics Companies can gather micro market information correctly and swiftly. Earlier, the company had to compile paper-based DSR (Daily Sales Report) from all their salesmen and then compile them to gather an idea about demand. But other metrics like the best performing product or retailer in a micro-market were next to impossible. The data collected from mobile SFA can be utilized to gather such analytics.