Remember how much work it used to be to keep your field service & sales teams up-to-date and communicating? If marketing materials were updated while on the road, you'd have to wait to get back to the home office before picking up the new sheets, or at worst, you'd need them sent out to you. (Photocopies of a fax were never acceptable.) Long distance charges were a severe drain on budgets. Area sales in the digital age has the opportunity to be much easier than it used to be - if your team follows these best practices.

1. Build A Territory Plan

Most companies recognize this, but it can be tough for growing teams to sort out on their own. Establishing boundaries and assigning to an account manager can give them a sense of ownership that they would not have if making indiscriminate cold calls or receiving inbound inquiries.

2. Sign Up For A Cloud-Based CRM

Long gone are the days where all of your sales leads and data were locked up in an on-premise database at company headquarters. Software-as-a-Service customer relationship management (CRM) software has been a major advantage for field service and sales teams, as well as their managers. These SaaS CRM systems can often be connected to e-mail, marketing platforms, and telephony to name but a few. Best of all, they all typically have apps that allow for easy access to all kinds of information and analytics while on the road.

3. Use Mobile Tools

The life of a field salesperson has improved dramatically from even just a decade ago. Instead of carrying large quantities of (potentially outdated) sales documents for presentations, your sales team typically just needs a few electronic items: A laptop for e-mail and analytics while at the hotel; a mobile phone with unlimited long distance for calls and a data plan for directions on the go; and a tablet for the sales presentation or service documents. One new development is the ability to show demonstration video to customers easily from tablets. Such demos used to require content on a CD or DVD, or even your own bulky laptop, whereas now new content can easily be downloaded using hotel WiFi and stored right on the mobile device.

4. Do Your Customer Research

Every good salesperson knows that researching a customer up-front is the only way to make a sale. Once you know their business intimately and how your product or service can provide the best value, you can speak directly to their pain points. The added benefit of mobile tools is that now a new lead can be acted upon much more quickly than if that lead had come in to the home office and was waiting for your team to come back and pick them up.

Once your organization has actualized these recommendations, you should see an invigorated sales or field service team. Everyone wants to have the tools at hand to do their job, learn what they need to know to do that job well, and be able to communicate effectively with not only potential customers, but also with their team and manager. You'll likely be pleasantly surprised at the boost you get in sales and employee morale once you've implemented these essential steps.