Increasing efficiency and boosting sales throughput for Field Management Ireland

“Although our field sales team were doing brilliantly, our processes were holding us back – we needed a system that would help us become more efficient and provide a better service to our clients. We would definitely recommend PSI to other businesses working in field sales. It’s easy to use, and all of the ‘heavy lifting’ is performed at the backend so your field agents can get on with their jobs – selling more subscriptions.”

Overview

Founded in 1995, FMI is the leading provider of outsourced sales solutions to business across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. They currently employ 60 full time employees at their head office, and maintain a network supplying 100 field sales professionals to Electric Ireland, driving door-to-door sales of their energy services.

The Problem

  • Post-sale paperwork delivered by post, adding significant delays to sales times
  • Slow processing of new sales by accounts team
  • Data on paper sign-up forms frequently captured or transcribed incorrectly

FMI’s field sales representatives are responsible for visiting houses across Ireland, encouraging householders to switch energy providers. At the start of the Electric Ireland contract, assigning jobs to the field reps was relatively easy – they were each issued a batch of contacts records each morning, and they would work their way through the list.

The problems began once the client had signed the paperwork agreeing to a change of electricity provider. Many of the reps would send the paperwork by post, adding at least a day to the process as head office waited for the completed forms to be returned. There were similar delays if the field agent faxed the paperwork through after 4pm because it simply would not be processed by the accounts team at head office until the following day.

These delays were further compounded when it cam to processing handwritten paperwork. The head office team, led by Kevin Teers, found that the data captured on the sign-up forms was frequently captured or transcribed incorrectly;

“Something as simple as indistinct handwriting caused us major problems when processing paperwork. We then had to expend even more time and energy trying to chase up the correct information – a needless waste of time and money.”

“So although our field sales team were doing brilliantly, our processes were holding us back – we needed a system that would help us become more efficient and provide a better service to our clients.”

The Solution

PSI’s Fusion Pulse mobile app allows the FMI head office to send contact lists direct to field sales operatives’ tablet/smartphone. The same app is then used to capture the customer’s data and uploaded directly to Fusion Core – the main accounts system at head office.

“We were instantly able to do away with the legacy paper-based system and all the associated problems. Which was great for me particularly – before PSI was deployed I had to process the physical paperwork”.

Outcomes

  • Instant upload of data means the transfer of utilities provider can be complete in 30 mins, compared to 24+ hours
  • Improved communication time between FMI head office and field agents
  • Significant reduction in data errors resulting from paper form filing

The move to instant data capture using PSI has greatly increased the efficiency of back office operations for the Electric Ireland account. Instant upload of data means that agents can begin the transfer of utilities provider in as little as thirty minutes, greatly improving the service they can offer to clients. In the event that there is a problem locally, head office can deploy updated work plans within a few minutes. There is never any wasted days for the field agents, who can adjust their schedule accordingly. The PSI system has also helped to reduce the instances of data errors. By having field agents collect data on site, and enter it directly into the backend systems, the margin for error has been reduced.

“We don’t have any more problems reading our field agent’s handwriting for starters. So there’s much less chance of it being transcribed incorrectly.”

Exploiting mobile technologies has had some unexpected benefits too:

“We had an agent accused of fraudulent activity recently, and PSI allowed us to provide a conclusive resolution. Using the geotagging features built into the PSI mobile client helped us prove where the agent in question was at the time of the alleged infringement. Happily we were able to clear him of any wrongdoing, because we managed to avoid upsetting a client and firing a valuable employee.”