Inside Out
Here is a shocking discovery.
About twice as many organizations report improvements when deploying SFA for inside sales teams than those that find improvements when deploying SFA to field sales. This news is according to some recently published research from experts in sales effectiveness. Further, this study also identifies that adoption is higher with inside sales versus field sales and wider spread in terms of overall deployments
Of course the obvious reason for these differences is that inside sales folks are strapped to a desk with butts glued to chairs and headphones plugged directly into the SFA tool. Field sales people, cowboys and cowgirls that they are, run wild in the field hopping from taxi to plane to conference room and then get into the hotel just in time for last call. Who has time to fill out all those drop down boxes on the computer screen?
But I don’t think the obvious reason fully answers the question. I think SFA works better for inside sales for two much more important reasons. #1 – SFA has been built for the inside sales work process. #2 – inside sales teams are managed much more strictly with the discipline required for SFA to be adopted and to work.
SFA can and does work for the field, under the right circumstances. Success comes from attending to those two items in the paragraph above. First, you have to build your SFA system to work the way field folks work. And, you have to allow them to do the work in the field, which probably means a hand held. Second, you have to hold them accountable for using the tool correctly. If reps in the field can get away with not using a tool that makes them perform extra administrative tasks, they are going to do as little as they can. Sorry if this offends anyone. Accountability is the only option for driving compliance.
Now, the question you should ask is, what about the whole WIFM thing – what is in it for me? Is there a difference between inside and the field with that? I think there is but it is subtle. Inside sales reps are aided by the SFA tool – it enables them to perform their jobs with greater ease. In fact, they probably could not do what they do without it. The extra boxes they enter data into in order to satisfy marketing and sales management is not that big of a deal.
On the other hand, the chances that the field feels punished by SFA versus rewarded by it are very high. We make them enter data on their down time when they should be helping their kids with homework. We ask them to capture information that is no benefit to them. Plus, their perception is that the more information they enter the greater the likelihood that it will somehow be used to hurt them.
If you want your field force to use SFA and improve performance with it, they have to experience a benefit. It can’t be theoretical, and it can’t be for the company. It has to be a personal, real, and perceived benefit.
So, wondering why things are going well inside and not so well outside? Don’t assume that because it works for one group it will work the same for the other. The field needs extra attention any way. Giving them an SFA tool that is optimized for the inside team is a sure fire recipe for disaster. These tools come out of the box designed for folks on the phone. Put in the extra effort to make it work in the field and you will help change those statistics from the latest study.