The business challenges of DNVs and how to address them

GMS is highly competitive: more and more brands are entering the market, yet shelf space is not expanding. Making a place for oneself - and keeping it - is therefore a daily job, which can prove to be difficult.‍

To get listed and gain market share, brands can rely on their sales forces and, in particular, their sales directors, or, for larger structures, their National Sales Directors (DNV) and Regional Sales Directors (DRV).

Sales forces have the double mission of developing revenue and profitability for both stakeholders (distributor and producer) while improving their own efficiency.

To do this, National Sales Directors need better data to make decisions; but they face three major challenges:

1. How to make my sales force profitable?

2. How to manage my sales force?

3. How to drive the commercial performance of the brand?

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In this increasingly demanding environment, the CRM must be a tool that enables and improves performance.

Unfortunately, too many National Sales Directors are still blocked by their CRM software: impossible data modification and export, no integration of datasharing or other solutions, non-customizable data collection...

‍Too many companies are still equipped with CRMs that do not meet field needs, and are not developed to be sales support tools.

‍Added to this is the difficulty of ensuring that sales representatives are carrying out their missions in the field and that they have all the tools at their disposal to achieve their goals: mobile application, route optimizer, customer follow-up...‍

In this article, we will explore the common problems faced by National Sales Directors and propose concrete solutions to help you strengthen your leadership and boost your teams' performance. And we know that, unfortunately, the last point may interest you.

How to make the sales force profitable

The primary challenge for National Sales Directors is the management of their sales force.

• How can I make sure my sales reps are working effectively?

• How can I make sure they are executing their tasks properly?

• How to achieve goals at a lower cost?

‍Through these questions, the challenge is to make the sales force profitable.

‍You are aware of the reality in the field: it is not possible to visit 100% of the stores. That requires a colossal workload and exceeds the allocated budget. Instead, the goal is to aim for the 80/20 rule: visit the stores that generate the most revenue.

‍And to carry out these visits, the National Sales Director (you) faces various challenges:

‍The selling time of my reps is too low

Sales reps spend 2/3 of their time not selling. Imagine if your territory managers only started selling on Thursday afternoons.

‍So, how do you increase this selling time?

• Short answer: by optimizing their productivity.

• Long answer: by giving them the resources and tools to be as efficient and optimal as possible in preparing their sales actions, and to have a sales pitch based on reliable and real-time data.

My reps spend too much time planning their routes

Your territory manager is planning his routes for next week. He first determines which stores he will visit: