Written by Shoaib Ahmed
Introduction
Field service representatives are the lifeblood of any service business. They are the ones who are out there on the front line taking the orders, performing work and upselling clients. But there are certain things that they need to do and certain things that they need to avoid if they want to be successful. This blog will take a look at some of the Do’s and Don’ts for field agents, so the next time they’re on the field, things go as smoothly as possible.
What Field Agents Should NOT Do
Manual Scheduling
One of the best ways to maximize your revenue when in the middle of a consumer interaction is to time every single encounter individually in order to be able to plan it out accordingly. To avoid accidents and delays, manual or haphazardly planned appointments for your team will only lead to a lack of key information about your industry’s trends.
Also, evaluate your strategies and make sure you aren’t doing all of the work by yourself. Sometimes it might be easier to do the legwork yourself instead of relying on other members of your team to take some of the responsibility off your shoulders – however, as someone with such a larger role such as a project manager or field director, we understand that it can be difficult to relinquish control and delegate some of those tasks.
That’s why we suggest listing each of your objectives and matching them up with one or more members who’ll take care of that on a weekly basis and then evaluating the progress after they’ve completed their tasks. All this can be easily achieved using automated solutions
Not Setting Clear Priorities
It’s very important to keep things in perspective and to not over-focus on one specific area of your business while neglecting others. A bad habit that some can fall into is putting an emphasis on just one element of their plan too much and not paying attention to the big picture or essentially, its larger structure.
Not Paying Attention To Feedback
As an entrepreneur, your greatest assets are your customers. If you ignore what they have to say about your products and services – you’ll only succeed in limiting the potential for growth that specific product or service has. It is essential that you act on any feedback that comes into your business, whether it is written or verbal – do not ignore it because you never know when it could lead to features of the product being re-designed.
Not Analyzing Your Metrics
Never stop analyzing your site data. A product or service that does not have its place or purpose can be a waste of both time and money – especially if you’re involved with a startup business. Your product needs to reach your target audience, and it needs to do so effectively, which is why field agent management only moves one step forward once the data has been evaluated after two steps back.
Not Having A Flexible System
Rather than have your field agents use a rigid, or formal system to document data, consider having them use an app for their smartphone that they can go out into the field with. Flexible automated systems, like TimeLinx work like a charm for this.
What Field Agents Should Do
Smarter Task Allocation
Whenever a field agent is going out into the field, it is vital to understand which one has the best chance of connecting with the customer, for instance, a retailer or pharmacist. One way to get a better grasp on these minute details is by using historical analytics.
Market Analysis
Always be aware of your customer base. They are the most vital part of any business so make sure you stay on top of what they want and need by having an open dialogue with your vendors. This way, if there is a possible misplacement or misunderstanding, it’ll be easier to correct it sooner rather than later which will leave no room for inaccuracies or confusion within that sphere of influence.
Improve Route Planning And Execution
One effective way to increase the number of appointments per day is by optimizing the routes that they take. For example, set the first appointment the farthest away and then plan the remaining appointments working the way back to the office!
Get Technology On Your Side
To maximize your marketplace reach, research your market on an ongoing basis. Choose the most effective platforms & channels to increase your power on search engines and maximize product placement on mobile devices.
Create complete territory maps and trend analyses in order to effectively capture work across your entire network of clients and partners.
Closing Thoughts
Those were just some of the many do’s and don’ts for a field agent. We know that field agents are invaluable to the success of any service company. That’s why we are highlighting some of the must-do’s and must-don’ts for being an effective field agent.
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About TimeLinx
TimeLinx delivers innovative project & service management software as a complete solution that perfects the sell-track-manage-support-bill cycle that services organizations must have to delight their customers; TimeLinx brings the cycle together in a single application that offers less frustration, better project management, complete reporting, and improved profitability – all specially designed for Infor and Sage.
