Sales Force Automation Software for Nigeria and Other African Markets

A Sales Force Automation software or SFA software is a potentially powerful tool for brands in Nigeria and other African markets. It supports and streamlines sales operations by improving the effectiveness of sales teams in the field; there is of course a need to possess one that is truly reliable. Something both up to date and functionally scalable. 

Not all platforms are like that and in Africa’s evolving markets, an SFA software must be able to not only support your route to market by helping your sales teams carry out their job (taking orders, complaint registration, audits, etc.) but also to be able to capture and document information for helpful analytics and strategic recalibration. Now add to that a platform capable of getting your sales team to collaborate with other stakeholders in your route to market, and you have hit gold!

African markets, including Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia and South Africa, are experiencing significant growth in sectors such as FMCG. This growth is driven by a rising middle class, urbanisation, and increased connectivity, creating a larger consumer base that creates the demand for expanding distribution networks.

However, this growth also brings challenges: companies face fragmented markets where a lack of proper roads and distribution networks leads to high transportation costs and delays. Brands also have less control over many local distributors in the remote hinterland who may harm your brand name by not following your standard pricing. Other issues include varied consumer preferences and logistical difficulties, particularly in rural and hard-to-reach areas​.

With this article, we have tried to differentiate Africa from other markets while emphasising how reliable Sales Force Automation software can help your business goals. 

African Markets: What Makes Them Unique (and Challenges)

• Rapidly Developing Market

The FMCG market in African countries such as Nigeria is rapidly growing due to a youthful population, rising middle class with more disposable income, and greater urbanisation. This fuels demand for consumer goods and necessitates brands to scale up their field efforts. Naturally, African brands or those operating in Africa are looking for robust and reliable SFA software to capitalise on this current momentum by streamlining sales processes and enhancing productivity. But it must be heeded that any market that is rapidly growing requires an SFA software like what BeatRoute offers that is both functionally scalable and highly configurable to keep pace with fluctuating market demand and conditions across a large country or continent. 

• Strong Dependence on Van Sales

Van sales play a crucial role in Africa that has vast rural areas, scattered populations in certain regions/countries, and small, independent retailers who lack the infrastructure or resources to purchase large quantities via a distributor, instead relying on direct store deliveries. Van sales enable FMCG brands to extend their reach to remote locations, ensuring consistent supply chains, and building lasting relationships with such retailers.

To make this work flawlessly, BeatRoute offers you its Mobile Van Sales Solution that simplifies route planning with integrated mapping, monitors van and store level KPIs for improved sales, increasing productivity. Additionally, we ensure accountability by managing your sales, promotions, payments, and real-time van inventory data.

• Tech Adoption in Nascent Stage 

Although a few developed African cities have seen significant tech adoption and modern trade development, most of Africa’s rural and semi-rural markets are still in the dark about much of modern technology such as the internet and computers. This makes it hard for brands to utilise state-of-the-art SFA and other tools in such areas because there is simply no technical infrastructure or the learning curve is too steep.

As such, it is highly challenging to implement cloud-based or data-intensive Sales Force Automation software in areas with low to zero connectivity or where there is a high dependency on legacy methods. One thing is certain – such an early stage of tech adoption in Nigeria and other African nations requires your SFA software to be offline capable and mobile-friendly, allowing sales teams to work effectively even without constant internet connectivity. Much like what we offer at BeatRoute. 

• Highly-Diverse Tech Familiarity Among Users

Africa has highly urbanised areas with tech-savvy users and also many areas such as the hinterland where people have limited experience or expertise with digital tools, even social media. Diversity of this kind means that you need an SFA software that is intuitive or AI powered for automatic recommendations, with simple, easy-to-understand workflows. At BeatRoute, we have an operational and a conversational AI that does precisely this – gives order recommendations, notifies automatically about low stock, informs sales managers about underperforming stores, etc.

• Huge Regional and Market Diversity

Being a massive continent with highly discernable regional identities in terms of consumer behaviour, economic conditions, and sales practices, market dynamics in Nigeria and other African countries can vary widely. The state of general trade and modern trade in one country can be totally different from another. As mentioned before, an SFA software must be flexible enough to address these challenges, so that you can customise workflows, metrics, and reporting to fit regional needs. BeatRoute understands the importance of Africa’s diversity and is uniquely positioned to address the nuances of Nigeria’s and on a bigger scale, Africa’s retail scene. 

• Market Share Domination by Traditional/General Trade Channel

Africa’s retail channel is primarily headed by traditional trade, despite modern trade doing well in some parts. Small corner shops, local vendors, and open markets are popular across the continent and they often operate informally, making it hard to capture actionable data and track sales. 

For example, traditional retail stores such as spaza shops in South Africa cater to much of the population, particularly in rural areas. Important to lower-income groups for basic needs who focus on affordability, these shops serve as a critical juncture in a brand’s route to market in such areas.

For Sales Force Automation software to succeed, it must also integrate readily with traditional trade networks, enabling your sales reps to capture information, take orders, and effectively manage relationships on the field. BeatRoute’s offline functionality and mobile compatibility combined with its functional scalability makes it ideal to navigate Africa’s high-touch sales scenario.

Why Do You Need Sales Force Automation Software?

In today’s generally competitive market, retailers have high expectations from the brands they partner with. With numerous brands vying for their attention, simply tracking sales activities is no longer sufficient for your interests. On the contrary, sales success for your brand heavily relies on the capabilities of your sales force/team who must be highly motivated, goal-driven, and well-trained to outperform other brands and drive better sales outcomes.

To be able to implement effective sales force management is to have a reliable sales force automation tool. This does the following – streamlines workflows, automates routine tasks, helps you to set clear goals for your sales team and facilitates collaboration with channel partners/stakeholders.

A high-performing sales team involves managerial supervision, training, and incentives in the form of gamification of sales goals. They also need a systemised approach to do their job like conducting planogram or visual merchandising audits that go beyond sales, albeit affecting it considerably. By helping you align these efforts with your brand’s goals, an SFA can ensure that your entire sales team – from reps to product promoters to managers – works together efficiently, elevating sales with less disruptions.

Sales Force Automation software can make a difference to your sales efforts in the following ways:

• An SFA tool allows your sales reps to easily take orders from retailers during store visits. This is systemic ensuring smooth RTM operations as opposed to writing orders down on a pad or a piece of paper that can be misplaced, jeopardising your sales. 
• It can register complaints and provide clear visibility not just on TAT, but more importantly, on what’s happening, updates, and stage of issue resolution.
• Sales teams also have the responsibility to carry out competitor analysis and they can do this with great potency with an SFA with multimedia capabilities that allows image/video/text capture. This helps brands recalibrate in-store strategies for market relevancy. 
• Visual merchandising audits such as checking for planogram compliance, share of shelf, standee positions, etc. can also be documented for further analysis and re-strategising.
• It can automate tasks such as scheme application or provide AI-powered order recommendations during order taking, etc., allowing sales reps to focus on customer engagement and audits.
• An SFA software like the one BeatRoute offers can also help your sales team collaborate with retailers and distributors by bringing them together on the same platform. 
• An SFA when combined with route optimization forms a potent combination because with it, your sales reps can cover the optimum number of stores every day and you can allocate resources based on priority. AI can suggest optimal routes and prioritise high-priority stores, based on some need like payment collection or falling sales or visit frequency, ensuring that sales teams focus their efforts where they are most likely to yield results. For example, BeatRoute’s “Help Me Plan” feature takes visit scheduling for sales teams to another level by going beyond static monthly plans and incorporating real-time factors like sales volume achievement, order pattern at customer level, payment status, and trade campaigns execution. This intelligent, AI-powered tool analyses these factors, assisting sales teams in prioritising customers and routes to maximise efficiency and ensure a high return on effort, resulting in more impactful visit schedules.
• BeatRoute’s enterprise-level Sales Force Automation software ensures that your sales reps don’t need to depend on memory or guesswork for visit frequencies. With AI-based suggestions for store visits based on need or priority, they can focus on relationship building and order taking. Additionally, sales managers can also check what is happening on a store level and intervene as needed.

Why BeatRoute Stands Out

As an enterprise sales force automation (SFA) platform designed for seamless, out-of-the-box deployment for your sales team. We align an easy-to-use interface with robust functionality and features, providing brands a formidable solution for sales. We emphasise the combined importance of automating/optimising existing sales processes while empowering you to define clear goals and encourage collaboration across the route to market. These capabilities simplify workflows, reduce errors, and significantly enhance productivity and performance. Equipped with our operational AI-driven intelligence, our SFA delivers smart recommendations to boost sales, increase order sizes, analyse order patterns and consumer trends, while identifying missed opportunities and leads. 

These capabilities and features are particularly useful for expansive, diverse, and complicated markets like in Africa that need efficient, error-free workflows to maximise productivity and reach. Brands can enhance their sales operations, track performance, strategise for betterment of existing processes, and make informed decisions even in regions where internet connectivity may be limited. Try our free demo today!