The 10 key questions for a smart sales application

The adoption of smart sales applications is now crucial to meet the growing needs of customers and optimise sales processes. This is especially true in a dynamic context such as the consumer goods sector.
A modern sales tool is not only designed to support sales agents in efficiently managing customer relationships, but can also add value through advanced features and new forms of predictive analytics.

What are the guiding questions to ask before choosing a smart sales application?

Drawing on years of experience with companies operating in the consumer goods sector, we have gathered them into 10 key areas:

• Customer management: do you always have your customer base under control in terms of performance? Do you know which actions to take to increase sales from customers who buy less?
• Pianificazione delle visite: hai chiaro l’ordine dei clienti da visitare per priorità?
• Visit planning: do you have a clear view of the order in which customers should be visited based on priority?
• Assortment management: do you know which products your customers have not ordered for some time so you can suggest targeted reorders?
• Order management: can you monitor order status and manage delivery processes?
• Product performance analysis: do you know which are your low and high turnover products, and those with the best performance?
• Sales optimisation: do you know which products to focus on most in order to maximise sales based on generated profit, activities carried out, and stock management?
• Promotion management: is your sales application flexible in managing promotions and applying discounts and special offers to customers?
• Reporting and analysis: how important is it for you to have detailed reports on sales performance, the effectiveness of adopted strategies, and overall business trends?
• Real-time data collection: can you make immediate decisions thanks to always up-to-date information from the field?
• Integration with payment systems: how much does your current application enable you to manage transactions securely and quickly through integration with different payment methods?

Today, these questions can be answered with advanced sales solutions that stand out for their ability to maximise operational efficiency and improve profitability, adapting to the specific needs of each market — from food to pharmaceuticals, from dairy to coffee, from nutraceuticals to beauty care. One example is .onSales, the sales management system with web and mobile applications designed to manage CRM activities and sales processes across all distribution channels in an integrated way.