Sales Mapping Software

Sales teams often schedule important meetings at a client’s location to show off their products and services in person. While first impressions matter, being on-time for product demonstrations can also positively impact the success of a salesperson.

It’s equally important to efficiently navigate the surrounding sales area and make as many meetings as possible for a productive day. And for teams who cover a large geographic area, this may include several individual sales territories.

A sales mapping system can organize all of these factors into a single map that managers and sales professionals can use to evenly divide territories, add pins and details for specific clients, and optimize driving routes to increase sales and manage valuable client relationships.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• What is sales mapping software?
• Common features of sales mapping software
• What type of buyer are you?
• Benefits and potential issues
• Market trends to understand

What is sales mapping software?

Sales mapping software gives sales teams customizable maps to manage customer and prospective client locations across a large geographic area, including contact and demographic details for customers, established territories for each sales person, and collaboration tools.

Mobile sales people can use the system to plan out their day of appointments and generate an optimized route with turn-by-turn directions to meet with as many valuable customers as possible each day.

Many systems also include mobile accessibility through a native app or via an internet browser on a smartphone or tablet. This allows salespeople in the field to collaborate with managers at the main office, and adapt routes and information to client schedules quickly.

Common features of sales mapping software

What type of buyer are you?

• Subscription delivery services: The online and delivery subscription model is popular with small businesses and established enterprises alike and are growing despite massive disruptions to operations and supply chains. Aside from direct sales meetings, sales mapping software can also be used to manage delivery schedules, especially for time-sensitive items, such as food and catering services.
• Software and technology sales: Certain types of sales typically include in-person meetings and demonstrations, such as technology and software sales, so clients can feel more confident in their investment. These types of vendors use sales mapping software to ensure they optimize routes and maximize the valuable face-to-face time with potential customers.
• Wholesale and direct-to-consumer: Several manufacturers are cutting out the middleman to sell products directly to buyers, giving them more control over the marketing and delivery of items. This requires companies to develop a reliable delivery strategy, but also a method to drive wholesale deals using mobile salespeople.
• Field services: Companies that provide various types of field services also utilize sales mapping software, including food and beverage replenishment, telecom asset management, maintenance crews, or home health services. These professionals commonly cover large areas to service customers and can make additional sales or change service preferences while at the job site, using a sales mapping system to make tweaks in the field.

Benefits and potential issues

• Increased sales per employee: Mobile salespeople who use sales mapping software can meet with more clients in a single day than those without optimized routes. Plus, managers back at the office can collaborate with sales professionals in the field to make adjustments based on traffic, no-show appointments, and other factors.
• More efficient use of transportation resources: Any business that needs to manage a fleet of vehicles knows that fuel, maintenance, and storage costs make up a significant portion of budgets. This is where sales mapping software can be used to reduce these expenses by providing the most efficient routes.
• Serves as a sales-focused CRM: Customer relationship management (CRM) software is an invaluable tool for sales teams to manage contact information for hundreds or thousands of clients. This useful data can also be stored within a sales mapping system and tied to individual pins for a more visual view of clients and their locations.
• Integrated with Google Maps: Most modern sales mapping software leverages Google Maps to generate accurate geographic information for sales professionals. Other application programming interfaces (APIs) are available as well, but companies should monitor how other sales teams navigate and use the maps that are regularly updated.

Market trends to understand

• Popular mobility features drive efficiency: Mobility is now a major advantage for several industries—maintenance crews, construction managers, and field service workers get more done in a single day by using a full-featured system at their fingertips, no matter where the job is. Sales teams can now use sales mapping software to maintain communication with managers and other salespeople to adapt as client schedules and traffic change throughout a day.
• Boost to mobile shopping is an opportunity for service providers:Recent Gartner research shows that more than 60% of smartphone owners use the devices to browse and shop online, a number that’s growing rapidly due to the pandemic. Retailers and other ecommerce businesses are scrambling to provide an engaging mobile experience, and service providers should adopt a digital strategy to meet the demand of these consumers.