GPS Tracking ROI

The ROI of GPS … Are you Hesitant to answer these questions? (Intro, Part 0)

How much time and how much fuel am I losing from idling engines? (Part 1)

Are my drivers speeding and where? (Part 2)

Where are my miles going? Am I making full use of expensive assets? (Part 3)

How much is asset abuse really costing my company? (Part 4)

When are my drivers starting work and when are they completing their shifts? (Part 5)

How many minutes of pre and post trip time are you paying for? (Part 6)

Are my drivers arriving on time for their deliveries? (Part 7)

Are my drivers making unauthorized stops? (Part

How productive are my assets? (Part 9)

(Today’s Topic) Are my sales representatives making their required calls?

Are my sales representatives making their required customercalls?

Almost all selling methodologies stress the importance of contact. No matter if sales people primarily cold call, work from leads supplied by marketers or visit prospects who have identified themselves by other contacts.  Consistency is a primary key to success. If you want to know where sales reps have been and how much time they have been spending there, a no upfront cost, no monthly cost GPS tracking system is your rapid ROI solution. I’ve often been told by prospects that they aren’t interested in tracking their company sales force because their sales reps are independent contractors and thus their own initiative will drive them to make money on their own.

Well, this is certainly true, to some extent, but today’s news flash is … people are naturally lazy, even self-employed people. Sales rep “A” makes nearly twice as much as sales rep “B”. Bully for sales rep “A” and shame on sales rep “B”. Perhaps you should fire “B” and look for a replacement. 

After the expenses of advertising, interviewing, checking references and training perhaps the ‘new’ “B” will make more than his or her predecessor. Or, perhaps, after 6 months the sales from “B” will now be only one third that of “A”.Hmm, now what? How much have you spent so far to actually decrease your sales?  No matter if the sales staff is employees or independent contractors your business can’t grow unless their income grows too. 

An alternative strategy might be to track the work times and locations that all your sales staff are visiting. Perhaps you could help the existing sales rep “B” to double his or sales without any other investment … how much could you save? And, as a side benefit, what if you also found out some things about sales star “A” that could increase his or her performance significantly as well? It costs very little to get started in GPS tracking, systems are available with nothing down except the first month or two lease payments (tax deductible of course) and no monthly cost. Double or triple sales for a few hundred dollar investment?  Think it through.

If you’re an independent sales person (your own supervisor), then don’t think there isn’t a benefit in measuring your own performance. Not only can you pay for a passive GPS tracking system with tax savings alone, think about the unique advantage that precise activity tracking might offer you as a business differentiator.

Suppose, for example, you sell real estate for a living. So do thousands of others. Why should I list with you … of course you are going to tell me that you will work the hardest … but your competitors will tell me the same thing. Why should I believe you really are different?  What if you can make one or two clicks on your computer and show me how many times you showed your existing listings last month and how much time you spent in my neighborhood? Isn’t this going to convince me to avail of your premiere level service? You can show me how you really are different from your competitors.

A decent GPS tracking system costs only a tiny percentage of one average real estate commission. How many more sales commissions do you want in 2006?