Field sales is becoming ever more important as consumers are demanding better shopping experiences and seeking better value products,  while they often focus  on buying products which are on promotion. Engaging consumers in unexpected ways which help to connect them to your product's unique value proposition, while giving them an enjoyable experience in-store, can really set your product apart. In this respect, the outsourcing of field sales is becoming ever more vital as companies look to focus on core business and take advantage of the benefits that a dedicated, professional field sales team can offer.

To this end, the EFMP’s  Belgian partners, Europromotion, partnered with global  company, SC Johnson, in order to assist them by providing  them with an outsourced field marketing team. SC Johnson had downsized in Belgium their marketing and sales team from 30 to 3 members which resulted in them looking to outsource their field sales roles. 

Europromotion is a leading multi-channel sales and field marketing company which specialises in outsourced sales, merchandising and in-store demonstrations. They were engaged to enable SC Johnson to maintain and further grow their business in the Belux Retail Food market by providing and managing a dedicated Field Sales Team  in order to have an impact on sales on the shop floor. The results were significant.  

Europromotion achieves these noteworthy results by constantly optimising the availability of SC Johnson’s products on-shelf and they ensure optimal shelf-merchandising, while negotiating and activating in-store promotions at store level. Europromotion manages a dedicated team of 4 qualified, permanent sales reps to execute this strategy. Constant coaching is provided to drive and empower reps to achieve set targets against pre-defined KPI’s. Reps are equipped with all necessities including a car, tablet, phone, POS material and a powerful CRM system for efficient planning, in-store data capturing and performance monitoring. A web based, best in class, business intelligence tool enables SC Johnson and Europromotion to access real time visuals to analyse performance and, if necessary, take appropriate and immediate actions. Daily sales support is provided to both the field teams and SC Johnson staff along with recommendations and action plans to further increase impact on the shop floor.

Results over the past year show a 30% uplift in numeric distribution for the pre-defined core products, which required over 7,500 sales visits and 2,200 in-store promo displays. SC Johnson are kept well informed through regular field sales meetings with the field sales team and the field sales manager.  Sales meetings cover the performance and realisations of the activity during the previous 6 weeks. Feedback is provided, sales objectives are compared to results and new objectives are set. Many of the challenges of outsourcing  the field sales roles  were negated by creating synergy through these regular meetings and by having a dedicated team managed and coached daily by a field sales manager who constantly communicates between the field sales team and the client. 

This process has proved to be very effective, and SC Johnson is delighted with the results achieved by outsourcing their field sales operation to Europromotion, one of the field management experts in the Benelux region.