There’s no perfect time to scale your consumer packaged goods business, but as you begin to meet sales goals and build a strong financial buffer, you’re probably starting to think big. Increasing distribution and expanding into new retail locations won’t lead to successful growth, however, unless your marketing efforts can keep up.
Street teams can do some of the heavy lifting for you by creating buzz around your products and exposing your brand to a wider audience. They can also bridge the gap between you, retail employees, brokers, and potential customers. By building the right team and then managing it properly, you can ensure that your products reach target consumers and are ultimately successful on the shelf.
Unfortunately, simply getting your product into more retail locations doesn’t automatically lead to more sales. As distribution grows, so does the impact of competition, and existing companies with a larger market share can more effectively bargain with retailers. Your product is moving further and further away from its most passionate representatives, making eyes and ears on the ground a necessity.
There are several commonly used strategies for building a merchandising team, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. If you’re looking for a dedicated team that will give you consistent coverage, hiring your own full-time in house field sales reps is a good option. However, there can be high costs associated with hiring, training and managing remote employees. On the other hand, outsourcing to a broker or a third party merchandiser can be more cost effective, but might raise doubts about the focus and passion that these reps bring to your product.
Ultimately, whichever method you choose, more “feet on the street” positively representing your product will lead to more exposure for your brand. Your street team could be handing out samples in high traffic areas or engaging in social media outreach; anything to get people engaging with your brand is a step in the right direction.
Managing a remote team comes with its own unique challenges distinct from those posed in more traditional office settings. Street teams are separated from their managers and from each other by distance and often by time, so achieving team cohesion and effective communication is even more challenging than usual. Yet field managers still need to drive accountability, manage territory coverage and analyze collected data.
Finding the right technology for mobile workforce management is the best way to ensure that your street team is on track throughout the day. As a manager, you want to look for a tool that streamlines operations, integrates easily with existing systems and facilitates communication between team members and with management.
Mobile CRM software that offers gps tracking, schedule management and data reporting is one great option for making sure that you’re handling your street team without using up too much of your own time and resources. Mobile CRM functions like a social collaboration app: easy to use with options for direct messaging and billboard-style announcements. This increased flow of information means that problems or questions can be addressed in real-time, allowing field reps to focus their full attention on the client and not have to worry about filling out paperwork.
Done right, street team promotion will give your brand better coverage and minimize some of the growing pains of scaling. However, it’s essential to carefully build the right street team and to manage each representative carefully and efficiently. Above all, remaining flexible throughout the scaling process and investing in field management software that can adapt alongside your business will ensure that your street team (and your brand) have nowhere to go but up.
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