How to organize an effective sales tour Methods & tools
The sales tour represents all the customer and prospect visits made by a sales representative over a given period of time and in a given geographical area.
It therefore needs to be well organized, to ensure the best possible use of the company's time and human resources.
Here's what' s involved in a sales tour, along with a few methods and tools to make your life easier!
What is a sales tour plan?
Drawing up a sales route plan is a solution for optimizing every route. It enables you to
- maximize the number of visits to customers in a given sector or region,
- reduce unnecessary mileage,
- and reach your sales targets faster, without going round in circles.
The entire strategy is adapted upstream: geographical area, sales priorities, specific time slots for this market... With an effective tour plan, every appointment should turn into a new opportunity or a potential new customer. Well thought-out tour mapping boosts business and reduces time spent on the road. Poorly managed, on the other hand, it can become a logistical sinkhole. 🗺️
What is the purpose of a sales tour?
Sales rounds are often used to meet sales objectives. In reality, however, the issues involved are more complex than that:
- prospecting in the field,
- delivery of goods,
- product demonstration,
- customer knowledge,
- after-sales service,
- customer loyalty.
The different types of commercial tour
The daisy tour
The area to be covered is divided into petals, the number depending on its size. The heart of the flower represents the sales rep's office or home.
The sales rep begins his or her tour with the farthest customer (maximum 1 h 30 away) and gradually returns to his or her starting point at the end of the day.
☝️ Some people recommend dividing the flower into 16 petals, corresponding to 16 sectors and therefore 16 rounds over the month, leaving 4 working days for unforeseen or urgent visits.
The cloverleaf tour
This is the same principle as the daisy circuit, except that the area is smaller and there are only 4 sectors, corresponding to the 4 leaves of the cloverleaf.
As with the first method, the customer base is well distributed, with a roughly equivalent number of visits each day.
The salesperson can organize one tour per day, keeping the 5th day for sedentary work or to make up for last-minute appointment requests.
The zigzag tour
For large areas crossed by a central axis, such as a freeway, where customers are widely dispersed.
Method: the salesperson takes the main route and starts his or her day directly with the most distant customer. He gradually returns to his starting point, meeting customers on either side of the main road as he makes his way back.
The snail or spiral tour
For longer tours and larger areas, the salesperson travels in a spiral, stopping at each customer and finishing with the one furthest away.
How to organize a sales tour?
A sales tour is a sales tour plan. They go hand in hand.
You can't improvise the organization of a delivery or customer visit tour, or risk wasting an enormous amount of time.
Defining the sales tour plan
A sales tour plan is the document, in the form of a map or calendar, used to plan all the sales visits to be carried out over a day, a week or a month.
The aim is to schedule as many meetings as possible, while limiting travel costs and journey times, depending on the geographical location of customers and sales reps, and their mode of transport.
Preparing rounds
Before mapping out routes, the sales manager assesses :
- the visit potential, i.e. the working time that the sales force can devote to customer visits, taking into account :
- public holidays, training days, etc,
- the size of the area,
- the ideal time to devote to each visit, depending on the objective,
- travel time between appointments, with a safety margin,
- customer availability;
- customer/prospect potential: who to visit first to get the best return on investment?
- expected profit: tour costs versus expected sales.
Based on these estimates, he opts for the type of itinerary he considers most profitable.
Optimizing the tour itinerary
To maximize the efficiency of your tour planning, you need to determine the optimum route. A geoplanning tool or a professional GPS (such as Google Maps or specific tour software) can help you organize a sales tour while limiting travel times. With a planning tool, you can make a large number of visits each day, reducing travel time and costs. ✅
Some tips for optimizing sales tours:
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Group all appointments by geographical area: go and meet as many customers as possible in the same area to avoid unnecessary round trips.
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Prioritize the most strategic customer portfolio: as you know, visiting certain customers can strengthen an existing relationship, or directly prepare a new sale with a convinced prospect. To maximize the customer relationship and the sales impact of your tour, always choose to meet these people at the start of the day.
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Plan a flexible itinerary: unfortunately, rabbits are not uncommon! With an interactive map and real-time updates, tour plans can be adapted from the first stop to the last. The aim? To compensate for any setbacks encountered in the field.
Good planning means less stress and more interaction to close deals!
Organizing logistics
Organizing a successful sales tour requires the company to pay attention to every detail:
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mode of transport,
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accommodation (if required),
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sales aids or sample products essential for prospecting.
🚘 For a traveling salesman, the choice of vehicle is essential, especially if he's carrying bulky equipment. Nobody wants to drive long hours stuck between boxes. If you're booking a hotel, choose one strategically located on the map, not too far from your first visits, and book it in advance to avoid unnecessary stress in the evening. Finally, make sure that all your sales documents (brochures, contracts, website) are ready at least 48 hours before the day of departure.
Brief the sales team
Several sales reps going on tour? A specific briefing for the team is essential! Coordinate actions to optimize efficiency:
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Recall the main objective of the field trip: prospecting? Building customer loyalty? Sign new contracts?
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Take stock of the key information on each customer contact: when you know who you're going to talk to, you can better plan your approach.
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Assign roles and zones to each person: with this method, you don't step on each other's toes, and you can manage a much larger area.
With a good briefing, each salesperson knows what he or she has to do and how.
Ensuring the tour runs smoothly
In the field, you need to juggle rigor and flexibility. Determining a schedule is all well and good, but a sales rep also needs to be able to adjust appointments to suit unforeseen circumstances. After each meeting, ask them to note down all useful information concerning the discussions and new actions to be taken. This information is essential for good customer follow-up and sales reporting!
Above all, don't underestimate an interaction that didn't lead to immediate results during the tour. Who knows, the exchanges may have opened the door to a future contract? Strengthening ties with your customers and prospects is another aspect of a successful sales tour.
Post-tour follow-up
Once the last visit has been made, the sales tour isn't over yet! You still need to analyze the results and follow up with your customers and prospects. 📊 Review the situation with the sales reps concerned:
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Assess the number of appointments made, conversion rates and orders actually obtained.
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Update the CRM with information collected face-to-face.
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Follow up prospects and customers according to the type of action agreed.
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Identify areas for improvement for future rounds.
It's this follow-up stage that turns a sales tour into a real growth lever for your company. Without follow-up, all efforts risk falling by the wayside.
Tools for optimizing sales rounds
Forget looking for a free sales tour plan or creating a sales tour plan in Excel.
A good sequence of customer visits is not set in stone; it has to be calculated and recalculated according to the vagaries of the field.
And there's nothing more efficient than software with artificial intelligence to do this for you, or to find a new customer nearby in the event of another's cancellation or absence.
You'll save precious time and gain in efficiency. Find out more about route optimization solutions. ⤵️
☝️ But let's not forget that route management software isn't the only tool a mobile salesperson needs:
- creating customized, personalized sales documents on the move,
- note-taking, centralizing and sharing customer exchanges with the office, in real time.
For example, you can use Kizeo Forms, a mobile sales management application.
It can also be used to send customer data, such as addresses to be visited, to sales reps' smartphones or tablets.
Sellsy, for example, is a comprehensive, modular French CRM suite that supports you in managing your sales activities. Thanks to its intuitive mobile application, sales reps can share their activities in real time, even on the move, so you can monitor their performance wherever they are. A true all-in-one tool, you also benefit from effective collaboration features during sales rounds: a shared agenda updated in real time, an opportunity tracking module, an intelligent lead scoring system, a pipeline view and sales dashboards, and much more!
Finally, did you know that there are mobile CRMs with geolocation functionalities? This is the case with Divalto weavy, which organizes all your activities in the field, including :
- optimizing and prioritizing trips using indicators,
- tracking of activities and travel orders on a map,
- mobile order-taking with access to inventory, etc.
All available as an application and connected to your ERP software.
Don't leave sales tour planning to chance
Improvising a sales tour is risky! Everyone can quickly go off in all directions, only to end up churning the wind. A well-organized sales tour means more concrete appointments, less unnecessary travel time and a better conversion rate. With the right tools and advance preparation, every journey is optimized and your sales impact is maximized.
Leave no room for approximation, and rely on a concrete strategy with high-performance tools... for sales reps who return home with signed contracts, not just kilometers on the odometer.
And you,what do you use to facilitate the work of your sales reps on the road?
🤓 Final tip for the road: regularly calculate the profitability of your tours to adjust the planning of the next ones!