SFA software, short for sales force automation software, is the app your field sales team uses to plan beats, take orders and record visits. If you sell in Nigeria or Kenya through key distributors, sub-distributors and open-market wholesalers, judge it on one thing first. Do the sales it records match what your distributors invoiced, and the cash your vans brought back? Maps and dashboards are the easy part of any demo.
This guide is for the sales or distribution head with a shortlist. It ends with a one-month pilot on one key distributor that tests the choice. Still deciding which kind of tool you need? Start with our guide to sales force automation tools.
Between your depot and the shelf, your goods pass through a key distributor, often a sub-distributor, then an open-market wholesaler, a van or a kiosk. At each hand-off, an SFA platform either keeps the record or loses it. The five things below follow that chain.
Five things to judge in SFA software for Nigeria and Kenya
1. Secondary sales from key distributors and sub-distributors
Secondary sales are what your distributors sell on to wholesalers, kiosks and dukas. Ask to see them by distributor, outlet, SKU and day. Then ask how a sub-distributor in Kano or Eldoret gets connected when it runs no billing software. A platform that only reads the key distributor's system leaves you blind where coverage is thinnest.
Ask about distributor stock too. A rep who books 20 cartons the distributor does not have has made a promise someone else will break. The rep should see the distributor's stock of each SKU while taking the order.
2. Wholesaler orders on credit
Wholesalers in open markets such as Idumota, Onitsha or Gikomba buy differently from a kiosk. Their orders run to dozens of lines, they often get their own price, and they buy on credit. Before adding more to the account, the rep should see its prices and what it already owes.
3. Van sales and cash
Where your vans sell for cash, the app has to work as a till as well as an order book. Look for:
- van loading planned against the day's beat
- an invoice printed or sent at the outlet
- cash, bank transfers and mobile money logged against each invoice
- a day-end count of van stock and cash before the van is unloaded
If cash is still counted on paper at the depot, the gap stays hidden until month-end. See how van sales automation works.
4. Price changes and trade schemes
When the naira or the shilling moves, your price list follows. Ask how a new price list reaches every rep's phone, even one offline that day. Ask what happens to orders taken at the old price. Trade schemes should apply by themselves, slab by slab, as the order is keyed. Then the distributor's claim can be checked against the orders that earned it.
5. A full day on an upcountry route
Once a route leaves Lagos, Abuja, Nairobi or Mombasa, signal comes and goes. Give the app to one of your own reps, on their own phone, for a full beat with the network off. Every order, visit and cash entry should save, then sync once with nothing doubled.
Then ask what a manager sees: check-ins that prove each visit, outlet coverage and strike rate on every beat. Ask, too, how the app guides the rep's next visit and next order. If the platform does not move outlet coverage, order value or scheme compliance, it is an expensive timesheet.
How your distributor network changes what you test first
- Key distributors on billing software: weigh integration first. Ask how their data reaches you, and how often.
- Sub-distributors with no system: weigh the distributor app. Can a distributor with one computer, or none, bill shops from a phone?
- Vans carrying much of your volume: put the cash test at the top of your list.
- Supermarkets as well as general trade: one outlet list should serve both.
- Selling in Nigeria and Kenya: each country keeps its own prices and currency, and head office sees both on one screen.
For how this plays out across food, drinks and household goods, see SFA software for FMCG.
Test your shortlist on one key distributor through a month-end
A demo shows what a platform can do. A pilot shows whether its numbers agree with your distributor's books. One rule decides most of it.
If the secondary sales in the platform do not match the distributor's invoices at month-end, nothing else on the scorecard matters. Where vans sell for cash, add a second match: the cash in the app against the invoices and what was banked. Every target and incentive you build later rests on those two numbers.
Set the pilot up like this:
- Pick one key distributor, its beats and one sub-distributor beyond it. Include an open-market wholesaler and, if you run vans, one van route.
- Load your real outlets, price lists and scheme slabs. Remove duplicate outlets as you load, or the pilot only tests your list.
- Change one price during the month on purpose, so the price test is real.
- Run it through one month-end close, claims and cash included.
| Test | How to run it | A pass looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Distributor match | Compare the month's secondary sales with the key distributor's invoices | Totals agree by outlet and SKU, and each gap has a reason you can see |
| Sub-distributor sales | A week of sales on the phone app or by file | Its sales sit beside the key distributor's, with no outlet counted twice |
| Cash match | Compare van cash and transfers with invoices and deposits | The three agree each day, or the gap shows by rep and outlet |
| Price change | Change one SKU's price mid-month | The next order on every phone uses the new price |
| Upcountry day | A rep runs a full beat with the network off | Everything saves and syncs once, with nothing lost or doubled |
| Visit proof | Compare a week of check-ins with the outlet list | Each visit sits at its outlet, so incentives are paid without dispute |
| Manager question | Ask which outlets on the pilot beats have not ordered this week | The answer comes without a report request |
Watch the reps as closely as the numbers. If they stop using the app in the pilot, they will not use it across the country. Have the area manager ride the beat with each rep in week one.
Running the pilot with BeatRoute
BeatRoute runs the SFA app, the distributor management system and the retailer ordering app on one platform, used by 6,000+ channel partners. A distributor connects through its billing software, an API or a scheduled file. One with no system uses the BeatRoute distributor app. The app runs a full day offline and syncs when the signal returns, and reps log payments and dues at the outlet. The Order AI Agent suggests lines for each order.
AAVA Brands sells global brands across Nigeria in general and modern trade. Before BeatRoute it had no single view of primary and secondary sales, the gap this pilot tests first. It now runs BeatRoute SFA and DMS linked to its ERP, with both in one view. On the platform it grew store-level sellouts 25–30% and field force productivity 18–20% (AAVA Brands case study).
BeatRoute suits brands whose reps sell to many retailers through distributors and want distributor management on the same platform. If that is you, book a demo and ask us to plan the pilot above on one of your key distributors.
Frequently asked questions
Who should be on the pilot team?
Someone from sales operations to own the data, and the area manager for the pilot beats. Add the key distributor's owner or accountant, and the finance person who signs off scheme claims and van cash.
Will distributors and sub-distributors share their sales data?
Not all of them at first. Start with those who will. Show the others what they get back: orders that arrive already keyed, and scheme claims settled against those same orders. For a sub-distributor with no system, an app on a phone keeps the cost of joining low.
Is SFA software the same as a CRM?
No. A CRM manages contacts and a sales pipeline from the office. SFA runs the field day: beats, outlet visits, orders, stock and cash. For the full difference, read SFA vs CRM.
How much does SFA software cost?
BeatRoute is subscription software, priced per user and module on annual contracts, with no free trial. Ask any vendor to price the pilot separately from the full rollout, so the pilot does not commit you to the whole contract.
