The sales process is an elaborate one. There are many steps and processes that you need to master to be successful. Two of the most important are sales order management and route planning. 

Luckily, we have the right tech stack, a sales management tool, and a route planning tool to help you conquer the B2B order and sales process: Order in Seconds and Badger Maps! 

Order in Seconds is a sales order management tool designed for distribution and manufacturers that makes sales order management, warehouse management, merchandising, and eCommerce easier and more manageable.

Meanwhile, Badger Maps, a route planning app, is designed with salespeople and field teams in mind to allow them to spend 20% less time driving and sell 22% more with its route optimization capabilities. 

In order to be successful, businesses must develop reliable and effective sales order management and route planning strategies to optimize their operations and improve their bottom line. 

Watch our CEO, Steve Benson, alongside Order In Second’s founder, Oscar Guerrero, in this webinar (+ blog) to answer questions from salespeople like you on how a tech stack like Order In Seconds and Badger Maps can further help B2B field sales teams like yours!

Short on time? No worries, keep on reading to discover the benefits of using this tech stack!

To optimize sales routes for your sales reps and their customers, the first step is to divide the territory geographically. Splitting it into regions such as Southern California, Central California, and Northern California would make sense. 

Over time, adjust the territories based on workload. Next, gather all customer information from various sources into a mapping tool that can generate routes. Determine customer priority based on order history and potential sales. Set rules for visit frequency, such as A customers once a week, B customers once a month, and C customers quarterly. 

Utilizing a routing tool like Badger Maps can create efficient routes, maximizing valuable time spent with important customers. 

Simplify the process with a territory route optimizer app.

To reduce driving time and visit more customers, sales reps need to optimize their routes based on the unique challenges of their territories. Whether it's covering extensive states like Wyoming and Colorado or navigating through busy Southern Manhattan, efficiency is key. 

An optimal route minimizes mileage and maximizes time spent with customers. This can be achieved through careful planning using pen and paper or Google Maps, which can take hours, or by utilizing software that automates route optimization in a matter of minutes. 

By having a solid plan and visiting the best customers, reps can save time spent on planning and the road. This improves productivity and reduces costs, such as gas expenses. Implementing a software solution can easily pay for itself through savings in both time and fuel.

The difference between using Google Maps and a solution like Badger Maps lies in the additional features and capabilities provided by Badger. 

While Google Maps offers basic mapping services, Badger Maps utilizes Google Maps, and other routing apps like Apple Maps and Waze, to build a comprehensive software tool specifically designed for field salespeople with your favorite interface. 

Badger Maps also integrates with CRM systems, spreadsheets, or databases, allowing seamless access to customer data. Sales reps can perform check-ins during customer interactions, capturing important notes and information that are then synchronized with the CRM or data repository.  Additionally, Badger Maps incorporates a routing optimizer that enables efficient route planning based on selected customers, considering time constraints and appointments. In contrast, Google Maps lacks these advanced functionalities, such as data integration and route optimization, making Badger Maps a more comprehensive solution tailored to the needs of field sales professionals.

Sales managers or business owners can save significant time planning routes by utilizing software solutions like Badger Mapping. 

Manual route planning with paper maps and intuition is time-consuming and often inefficient. 

Human minds can struggle with optimizing complex route configurations, especially when considering variables such as traffic patterns and city layouts. Without computer algorithms, finding the best routes becomes a challenging task. However, with route optimization software, sales managers can design all their routes in minutes, significantly reducing the time spent on planning. 

Research suggests that inefficient planning and driving routes can consume approximately 20% of a sales rep's time, equivalent to around eight hours per week. By implementing route optimization software, managers can save valuable hours each week, enabling more efficient and productive sales operations.

By using a route planner solution like Badger Maps, sales professionals can increase their sales in several ways. 

Firstly, saving time on route planning allows them to spend more time in front of customers, resulting in higher productivity and more sales opportunities. 

Additionally, the software helps salespeople identify and focus on the most promising prospects based on their location and other relevant information. By visualizing customer data on a map, sales reps can better prioritize their efforts and make informed decisions about who to target. 

Case studies have shown significant improvements, such as visiting 1-2 more stores daily, leading to an increase in business sales. 

See how Badger Maps helped Cutter & Buck increase from 12 to 20 meetings per week here.

On average, Badger Maps customers have reported a 20% increase in weekly meetings, resulting in substantial revenue growth. Badger Maps ensures that reps are efficiently reaching the right customers, avoiding overlooked or underserved accounts caused by inefficient routes. 

Badger Mapping empowers sales professionals to optimize their sales efforts, maximize their time with customers, and achieve better results.

When it comes to prospecting for new customers in the field, an effective practice is to leverage available information sources. 

In addition to the existing customer data, a route planner solution like Badger Maps can tap into external databases and overlay that information onto the map. This includes data on various types of businesses such as convenience stores, grocery stores, and auto body shops. By searching for specific categories, users can discover new prospects around them that they may not have previously known. 

Badger Maps enables users to view existing pins alongside newly discovered locations, helping identify potential leads. Once a new lead is identified, it can be saved within Badger Maps and seamlessly integrated with the user's CRM or ERP system. This allows for efficient lead management and the inclusion of the new prospect in route planning and daily scheduling. 

By leveraging available data sources and integrating prospecting with route planning, sales professionals can effectively identify and capture new leads while optimizing their field activities.

To enhance the CRM experience for sales reps, Badger Maps focuses on making the CRM system more practical and valuable in the field. 

By integrating the CRM with a mapping environment that offers routing and geographic analysis, reps gain the ability to visualize their data on a map, allowing for better planning and decision-making. 

Instead of sifting through lists or searching by zip codes, reps can see their customers and prospects directly on the map, optimizing their routes and making efficient use of their time. 

Additionally, Badger Maps ensures that data collected by reps in the field, such as updates and check-ins, is seamlessly synced back to the CRM. This results in accurate and up-to-date information within the CRM, which encourages increased CRM usage across the organization. 

Companies typically observe a significant boost of around 50% in CRM utilization due to the improved data quality and valuable insights derived from Badger Mapping's integration.

Sales planning provides sales managers with valuable insights into the activities and whereabouts of their field sales team. 

Without a tool like Badger Maps, managers struggle to understand what's happening in the field, often resorting to micromanagement and constant check-ups. Badger Maps aims to alleviate this burden by offering a solution that tracks and gathers data from the field effectively. 

While it doesn't monitor every movement, it captures location data through check-ins with customers. Managers can generate reports at the end of the week to identify which reps have fulfilled their appointments, taken notes, and remained in the designated areas. This enables managers to detect any issues or discrepancies quickly. 

By having this information readily available, managers can avoid excessive micromanagement and focus on addressing actual problems, leading to more efficient team management. 

Overall, Badger Maps serves as a valuable sales management tool that provides real-time visibility into field activities, reducing the need for constant oversight.

Conclusion

In conclusion, efficient route planning is crucial for businesses to optimize operations and improve their bottom line. Badger Maps offers a route planning solution that benefits sales teams of all sizes, from 10 reps to 1,000. 

By optimizing routes, Badger Maps improves efficiency and effectiveness, saving time and reducing costs. The solution integrates with CRM systems, offers route optimization, and captures important data during customer interactions. 

Badger Maps enables sales reps to visit more stores, increase sales opportunities, and prioritize efforts effectively. It also assists with prospecting for new customers and enhances the CRM experience for reps. 

For sales managers, Badger Maps provides valuable insights into field activities, eliminating the need for excessive micromanagement, and is a comprehensive solution that helps businesses streamline their sales operations and achieve better results.

Badger Maps offers demos and has a dedicated team to assist with setup and support. A free trial is also available to ensure the solution meets your needs and is suitable for your sales team. Try your demo or free trial today!

More information on Order in Seconds and their founder, Oscar Guerrero

In the world of mobile cloud software, Order in Seconds emerged as a trailblazer, revolutionizing order fulfillment for wholesale distributors and manufacturers. OIS stepped in with their cutting-edge Mobile Solution, streamlining the process used by field sales reps to place customer orders and helping eliminate order errors. This innovation propelled them beyond the limitations of outdated technology, empowering businesses to automate and expedite their order-taking like never before. At the helm, OIS helps create a future of efficient, error-free transactions.

Oscar Guerrero, the founder of Orders in Seconds, was Steve’s co-host in the webinar 

Oscar is a US Navy veteran and a software development consultant with over 25 years of experience in the IT sector, specifically within the financial and food & beverage industries.

He is a New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) graduate with a B.S. in Science and Technology. Using his knowledge and expertise, Oscar founded Orders in Seconds Inc., a company that has provided cloud-based mobile applications and services to B2Bs for over 17 years.

Visit Oscar's LinkedIn profile here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oscarguerrero-ois