"Sales force can-not perform in isolation. For it to perform well, it is important that there exists a
real-time communication channel with the corporate office"
Why is Sales Force Automation required?
Enterprises can take real-time inputs from the sales force and review/modify the targets/policies accordingly.
Sales employees can take real-time decisions with complete transparency to the top-management.
Sales force can be motivated by smooth and transparent flow of corporate information.
Why Mobile Messaging is ideal for SFA?
Mobile sales force can be connected to the central office in either of the two ways:-
By providing the sales force with a PDA which has a custom built SFA application deployed on it.
By empowering sales force with two-way messaging capabilities so that they can communicate with the corporate/sales office.
Comparison Table - PDA vs. Mobile Messaging
Parameter
PDA
Messaging
Total Cost of Ownership
High Capex (500 USD per sales force )
No investment per sales force
Application Compliance
Low - Training requirement
High- simple to use
Deployment Time
High ( 1-2 years)
Low ( 1-2 months)
Real-time
Normally Offline Synchronization
Always
As obvious from above, mobile messaging is not only more cost-effective but also more effective than the custom application development because of the ease and flexibility of usage
Bouquet of mobile messaging Services
Corporate Information
Alerts on salary credit, policy changes etc.
Updates on company performance, achievements.
Reminders of periodic performance review deadlines.
Sales Review/Tracking
Updates on weekly/daily individual targets.
Region/Product wise MIS on sales performance.
Push sales performance within the sales hierarchy.
Field employees can pull the sales performance of their peers.
Sales Cycle Management
Alerts to dealers on price change/new products etc.
Sales force can increase credit limit of dealer using SMS
Order placement and delivery tracking over SMS
Lead registration by sales force
Mobile messaging services empowers the sales force to take real-time decisions based on the market dynamics
