Sales team tracking
Discussion
I manage a team of 3 external field sales people all with company provided cars.
Their areas are large (they each have a third of the UK) and I am thinking of having some form of no frills, basic tracking system. Predominately I'm trying to ensure that I can satisfy the need to know where they are if something was to happen to them while they were out and about such as an accident or illness. They are lone workers, after all, and you never know what could happen.
My aim is not to sit at my desk and try to 'catch them out' for timekeeping or stuff like that as I know they are doing their jobs as I talk to them every day on the phone and I also talk to their customers. I am considering an app for their iPhones/iPads, does anyone have any experience or recommendations of which ones to consider? I've kind of discounted vehicle fixed ones as it's them I need to protect, not the cars, and they do spend time with others in different cars and on trains/planes and so on.
Any comments gratefully received!
Their areas are large (they each have a third of the UK) and I am thinking of having some form of no frills, basic tracking system. Predominately I'm trying to ensure that I can satisfy the need to know where they are if something was to happen to them while they were out and about such as an accident or illness. They are lone workers, after all, and you never know what could happen.
My aim is not to sit at my desk and try to 'catch them out' for timekeeping or stuff like that as I know they are doing their jobs as I talk to them every day on the phone and I also talk to their customers. I am considering an app for their iPhones/iPads, does anyone have any experience or recommendations of which ones to consider? I've kind of discounted vehicle fixed ones as it's them I need to protect, not the cars, and they do spend time with others in different cars and on trains/planes and so on.
Any comments gratefully received!
Is the OP a wind up? Slightly different - At a previous company where I worked all company vehicles were tagged (housing repairs & maintenance). People weren't happy because it cut down on skiving, doing foreigners and, in a couple of cases, doing tenants.
Strangely enough, whilst there was a lot of grumblng/moaning from the "old hands" nobody could come up with a genuine reason as to why a company van shouldn't be tagged.
Strangely enough, whilst there was a lot of grumblng/moaning from the "old hands" nobody could come up with a genuine reason as to why a company van shouldn't be tagged.
I can see lots of reasons for vans - distance/time to next job, re-allocation of priority work by nearest engineer etc.
I can see no reason for salespeople, the company arent getting paid via every meeting they attend nor how quickly they attend their next meeting.
if you read lone working advice - its a simple risk assessment and first aid kit in the car.
if the op was so worried then schedule calls to all persons twice a day, the police dont consider you a missing person until 24 hours has passed anyway.
I can see no reason for salespeople, the company arent getting paid via every meeting they attend nor how quickly they attend their next meeting.
if you read lone working advice - its a simple risk assessment and first aid kit in the car.
if the op was so worried then schedule calls to all persons twice a day, the police dont consider you a missing person until 24 hours has passed anyway.
king way. I can provide GPS trackers for vehicles and for people.... the vehicle ones plug into the OBD port, very good web accessed dashboard which tells you where the car is, where's its been, speed, excessive braking, excessive rev's, keeps track of mileage etc which is good for lease cars.. also reports any faults from the vehicle so can provide warning of issues and also of services due etc. No installation cost as you plug it in yourself, fairly low cost compared to other systems as well! It is really, really good bit of kit and will soon be used by some big insurance companies. PM me if you do want further info. I'm trying to find a way to offer this "contract free" too, as I think this would appeal to a lot of small businesses.
The "people" one works in a similar way (wrist band + receiver unit) only it does't tell you when a service is due! haha. However, this is for lone worker/elderly/sports/kids sort of thing. GOOD LUCK trying to put trackers on your sales staff!
The "people" one works in a similar way (wrist band + receiver unit) only it does't tell you when a service is due! haha. However, this is for lone worker/elderly/sports/kids sort of thing. GOOD LUCK trying to put trackers on your sales staff!
Edited by MrSparks on Friday 10th July 19:13
App for phones/tablets would work, I know a company that uses this and they also use lockdown features to prevent GPS/data being turned off etc.
Another way I've seen is requiring a daily appointment (with post code) log to be sent to you. You then correlate this with a route planner and the reported mileage from the odometer.
Depends why you _really_ want to track them.
Another way I've seen is requiring a daily appointment (with post code) log to be sent to you. You then correlate this with a route planner and the reported mileage from the odometer.
Depends why you _really_ want to track them.
hman said:
I can see lots of reasons for vans - distance/time to next job, re-allocation of priority work by nearest engineer etc.
I can see no reason for salespeople, the company arent getting paid via every meeting they attend nor how quickly they attend their next meeting.
if you read lone working advice - its a simple risk assessment and first aid kit in the car.
if the op was so worried then schedule calls to all persons twice a day, the police dont consider you a missing person until 24 hours has passed anyway.
complete myth in bold , and about as accurate as the rest of the guff you written ... I can see no reason for salespeople, the company arent getting paid via every meeting they attend nor how quickly they attend their next meeting.
if you read lone working advice - its a simple risk assessment and first aid kit in the car.
if the op was so worried then schedule calls to all persons twice a day, the police dont consider you a missing person until 24 hours has passed anyway.
lone working is not just a quick risk assessment and a first aid kit in the car ...
We used to track our fitters with GPRS phones using some software from GPS gate (if I recall). This worked really really well, the only time they stopped transmitting was when the phone was in use so you could even see when they'd been on the phone for hours. We had a particular problem with one fitter disappearing for hours on end, this app put a stop to that.
I can't see the problem with using personal trackers to be honest, you are being paid (hired) by a company to do a job, if you are doing what you're being paid for what's the problem. You must tell your staff you have trackers fitted too btw.
I can't see the problem with using personal trackers to be honest, you are being paid (hired) by a company to do a job, if you are doing what you're being paid for what's the problem. You must tell your staff you have trackers fitted too btw.
If you want to track people or cars then fine, do it. But don't treat your staff like idiots and tell them its for their own protection 
I don't see how people can complain if the boss wants to know where they are while they're being paid. Though you might then have a problem when you have an out of hours emergency and you can't contact everyone as they've turned their iPhones off. imo it wouldn't be reasonable to expect people to keep tracking devices on them while they're off the clock.
I don't see how people can complain if the boss wants to know where they are while they're being paid. Though you might then have a problem when you have an out of hours emergency and you can't contact everyone as they've turned their iPhones off. imo it wouldn't be reasonable to expect people to keep tracking devices on them while they're off the clock.
minghis said:
I manage a team of 3 external field sales people all with company provided cars.
Their areas are large (they each have a third of the UK) and I am thinking of having some form of no frills, basic tracking system. Predominately I'm trying to ensure that I can satisfy the need to know where they are if something was to happen to them while they were out and about such as an accident or illness. They are lone workers, after all, and you never know what could happen.
My aim is not to sit at my desk and try to 'catch them out' for timekeeping or stuff like that as I know they are doing their jobs as I talk to them every day on the phone and I also talk to their customers. I am considering an app for their iPhones/iPads, does anyone have any experience or recommendations of which ones to consider? I've kind of discounted vehicle fixed ones as it's them I need to protect, not the cars, and they do spend time with others in different cars and on trains/planes and so on.
Any comments gratefully received!
Wow, you clearly have trust and management issue you need to deal with.Their areas are large (they each have a third of the UK) and I am thinking of having some form of no frills, basic tracking system. Predominately I'm trying to ensure that I can satisfy the need to know where they are if something was to happen to them while they were out and about such as an accident or illness. They are lone workers, after all, and you never know what could happen.
My aim is not to sit at my desk and try to 'catch them out' for timekeeping or stuff like that as I know they are doing their jobs as I talk to them every day on the phone and I also talk to their customers. I am considering an app for their iPhones/iPads, does anyone have any experience or recommendations of which ones to consider? I've kind of discounted vehicle fixed ones as it's them I need to protect, not the cars, and they do spend time with others in different cars and on trains/planes and so on.
Any comments gratefully received!
Presumably you are employing adults, not children?
Worried they might get ill or not be safe, really
I track my sales team.
I track the enquiries they are generating, their conversion rates, sales and the profitability of those sales.
I don't care what time they start, where they go, who they are with or what they are doing. There are times I don't even know what country they are in.
I track the enquiries they are generating, their conversion rates, sales and the profitability of those sales.
I don't care what time they start, where they go, who they are with or what they are doing. There are times I don't even know what country they are in.
Pistom said:
I track my sales team.
I track the enquiries they are generating, their conversion rates, sales and the profitability of those sales.
I don't care what time they start, where they go, who they are with or what they are doing. There are times I don't even know what country they are in.
This. As long as they are making their numbers, I'm not worried. When they aren't, then I get interested.I track the enquiries they are generating, their conversion rates, sales and the profitability of those sales.
I don't care what time they start, where they go, who they are with or what they are doing. There are times I don't even know what country they are in.
Stephanie Plum said:
Pistom said:
I track my sales team.
I track the enquiries they are generating, their conversion rates, sales and the profitability of those sales.
I don't care what time they start, where they go, who they are with or what they are doing. There are times I don't even know what country they are in.
This. As long as they are making their numbers, I'm not worried. When they aren't, then I get interested.I track the enquiries they are generating, their conversion rates, sales and the profitability of those sales.
I don't care what time they start, where they go, who they are with or what they are doing. There are times I don't even know what country they are in.
I do however have trackers on my company vehicles... not for any other reason than to see where they are during the day - so I can give customers ETAs etc. I couldn't care less how many times they stop for a sarnie, or where the cars/vans go out of hours.
mph1977 said:
hman said:
I can see lots of reasons for vans - distance/time to next job, re-allocation of priority work by nearest engineer etc.
I can see no reason for salespeople, the company arent getting paid via every meeting they attend nor how quickly they attend their next meeting.
if you read lone working advice - its a simple risk assessment and first aid kit in the car.
if the op was so worried then schedule calls to all persons twice a day, the police dont consider you a missing person until 24 hours has passed anyway.
complete myth in bold , and about as accurate as the rest of the guff you written ... I can see no reason for salespeople, the company arent getting paid via every meeting they attend nor how quickly they attend their next meeting.
if you read lone working advice - its a simple risk assessment and first aid kit in the car.
if the op was so worried then schedule calls to all persons twice a day, the police dont consider you a missing person until 24 hours has passed anyway.
lone working is not just a quick risk assessment and a first aid kit in the car ...
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