JT Rimbey’s Post

Approaching 4 years with Map My Customers and the top take away in talking with outside sales leaders continues to be that traditional CRMs aren't made for field sales. 1. It's not mobile-friendly. 2. It's not easy to use, even on the web. 3. It doesn't help field reps in real-time. 4. It doesn't help field reps be strategic. 5. Sales leaders lack accurate data for tracking results and performance. I've spent my entire sales career living inside CRMs. They are AMAZING... when used correctly. The problem is they're just not set-up to help outside reps while they're on the road or visiting customers. So, what do these sales folks do? They log everything on their "office admin day." And we all know how easy it is to remember every visit you went on throughout the week at 4pm on a Friday, right? The CRM world is primed for a shake-up. Especially for field teams. - Reps hate the CRM, so they game the system or don't use it at all. - Sales leaders don't trust the CRM because reps game the system or don't use it at all. The forward-thinking, dedicated sales leaders of today aren't accepting this. They want the software to work for their team, so they can be better player-coaches out in the field. As it should be. #outsidesales #fieldsales

Time and time again, I see outside sales orgs being overly reliant on long term relationships with their customers. Just because you have a rep that has become buddies with a customer over the last 30 years, doesn't mean that business will remain in tact when the rep retires or the customer retires. Outside sales driven organizations are plagued by not being able to replicate what the top reps do to drive revenue. Because, outside sales orgs too commonly, have no clue what top reps do to drive revenue. 👉 You can't replicate, what you can't see. 👉 You can't coach, when you can't see areas of weakness. 👉 You can't reinforce when you can't see strong fundamental selling motions. 👉 You can't provide strategic guidance when you have no strategy. Being overly reliant on the relationship is a symptom of not having a systemic, repeatable sales process. #outsidesales #fieldsales

The Management Tax Time Suck Every action that you take as an outside sales leader is either building trust and respect or eroding trust and respect. If you are requiring daily calls with your outside reps to see how things are going, what they are up to or to learn how the day before went, chances are, your reps view you as a management tax time suck. They see your name pop up on their phone and they consider silencing the call and ignoring it altogether. The irony is that these managers are the same ones that think making their reps log anything around interactions with accounts automatically falls into the bucket of big brother. The sad reality is that these managers exhibit more big brother tendencies because they have no visibility into what their team is doing - aside from heckling them multiple times a day. The sad result is that these managers offer no value or strategic guidance as there is no data to reliably reference as a north star. The Customer suffers. The Outside Rep suffers. The Company suffers. #outsidesales #fieldsales

The broken promise of the CRM for Outside Sales Leaders Leaders are promised visibility that they've never had to effectively & strategically coach their reps. They're promised visibility they've never had to finally provide value to their team. They are promised visibility in order to accurately forecast and roll the projections up to the executive team, rather than continue to guess. The reality ---> all of those promises rest on two things specifically centered squarely on the shoulders of the outside reps. Ease of Use Value Reps require ease of use and value all within their mobile device. Not easy to use ---> no adoption. No value (doesn't actually help them drive revenue) ---> no adoption. No adoption ---> no visibility into data, no coaching ability, no forecasting ability, etc. You've wasted time and money on a CRM built for desk jockeys. #outsidesales #fieldsales

For outside sales driven organizations, customer expectations are finally demanding more. If you have reps that are 'professional visitors' to their target accounts and you require no documentation of those meetings, those customers will indeed grow weary of the inevitable Groundhog Day interactions. Same chit chat. No industry knowledge sharing. No helping their business move forward. No value. Post-it notes and notebooks on the floorboard on their car does not constitute documentation or organization. Equip your reps with value that they can pass along to the customer. #outsidesales #fieldsales

As an outside sales leader, getting the basic stuff right matters most and makes the most impact. 👉 Account Segmentation Strategy Have you made it easy for your reps to know who to see, why to see them and how frequently they need to be seen in the most efficient way possible? If the answer is yes, you've already set yourself up to help them be strategic and efficient. 👉 Admin insanity Are you still making them log stuff in a CRM made for desk jockeys? Are you still having them update a spreadsheet? Are you still having them email you a summary of their week on Friday evening? Or are you still having a "call" everyday for updates? 🤦♂️ If the answer is yes, you need to look for a mobile first platform that eliminates the admin burden, while actually helping your reps in the field. 👉 Measure what matters by understanding what drives revenue Can you confidently articulate what drives revenue? If the answer is yes, hold your team accountable to those motions. If the answer is no, you better find out quickly as everyone else knows that you don't know. Ya know?! #outsidesales #fieldsales

Successful, outside sales driven companies prioritize transparency. They aren't surprised with revenue hits or revenues misses. Success is not left to chance. The path to revenue is well defined and measured. Outside reps know WHEN & WHY they need to see each account as they have data guiding them visually. - revenue up or down y/y, m/m - category data growing / shrinking - gm up or down - product expansion oppty - competitor hiccups - renewal timeframes - diagnostic tests up / down m/m - scripts written growing / decreasing Inefficiencies and waste are avoided like the plague. Customer Engagement with the right people at the right time is the number one goal. #outsidesales #fieldsales

The most efficient outside sales teams have slayed the administrative giants of CRM. They are mobile first (tablets included) - because the entire team is mobile. They aren't deck jockeys. They know which accounts to see, when to see them and how frequently they need to see those accounts. They are organized as data is EASILY logged immediately after each meeting, keeping all team members in the loop and up to date. At any given moment, each rep could visually show all of their top accounts, expansion or shrinking accounts, prospects, etc. They have parameters in place to help them be efficient and address attention areas quickly. They don't do the salesman death star in driving across their territories. They are efficient. #outsidesales #fieldsales