Could It Be Time For a Re-Route?

It always looks easier on paper when management is changing or adding new routes. Once a rep gets out on the street, though, that's when you truly know how efficient the re-route was. If you ever participated in a re-route, I bet the first thing you did was identify who your strong and weak performers are. That's good. You should always know who those people are.

Striking a Balance Isn't Easy, but Essential

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Building routes around those character attributes is essential to maximizing your sales rep's potential. You should not only try to place people in roles where they can succeed, but also where they will be challenged. If not, they will never grow beyond a certain threshold, nor will your business. If you have a rep who is good at a particular channel, say, urban independents, you would naturally want to place him there. And if you have a rep who lacks sufficient skills to properly service large stores, you may not want to give him that segment of your business. But, you have to strike a balance, because managing solely to those abilities, will undoubtedly lead to failures elsewhere. A new route is no place to find out an employee cannot handle the job.

Stops Per Day?

Another thing you have to consider during a re-route is what are the industry averages for a sales rep. You should be using some sort of data to determine efficiency in relation to stops per day and number of accounts in a rep's entire universe. Can your small store rep effectively call on 23 stops in a single day? The operative word is "effectively". Probably not, if he's going to do all the things required of him. 

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Did he rotate the cooler and display, place POS, sell in the new focus items, pricing surveys, check for damages, etc...? Now, what about 15-17 stops. Does that sound achievable? Maybe. If he starts on time, he should be able to get it done. If start time is 5 am and he works 11 hours, he's ready to transmit his orders and go home at 4p. That gives him 30 minutes per stop plus drive time. Some stops may take 45 minutes, but others may only take 15. It will balance out. Yeah, he's doesn't have that much time to chit-chat with store owners beyond what is reasonable, but no one said this is a part-time job, you got to keep moving! Also, you have to decide what's achievable for mileage and traffic and whether or not there is a sales meeting on certain days, too. This all factors in.

Volume

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When you discuss volume, it could skew your re-route. You will never be able to have all routes designed with equal volume. If you do, then you probably have routes that are either too heavy or too light. Which means you should either add a route or two or trim a route or two. There will always be heavy routes and light routes, but if they call on the same channel, there should not be more than a 20%-25% difference in volume from top to bottom.

Changes in Route Dynamics
Supermarkets open or close along with small stores all the time. There are some areas that have a constant turnover of business. I know it's a pain in the rear to do so, but, to ensure you are maximizing your rep's fullest potential, re-routes should be done on a yearly basis because routes can change drastically over that period.

Enough Already!
Re-routes can be agonizing for sales reps and managers. You are never going to make everyone happy, so don't even worry about that. You just have to finish because it's taken you three weeks so far and you have to make sure your normal work gets done as well. Lock yourself in an office and don't get distracted. If you want to maximize your company's potential, it's well worth it.  

This blog is the opinion of the author. None of the companies mentioned here have any affiliation with this blog, nor do they endorse its contents...but they should. Gregg W Shore is a 23 year beverage veteran who writes @DrinkPro, A View of the Beverage Industry, from the Inside Out. Connect on LinkedIn and follow on Twitter @DrinkPro.