Here’s how you can nurture and take care of your field data.
The success of your retail execution strategy and the question of how to improve retail sales rely heavily on the quality of your field data collection software. Does it allow for real-time data collection and analysis? Is it robust enough to capture all of the intelligence your field team does on a regular basis? Field reps are your eyes and ears on the ground; no one knows what actually happens in store quite like they do. Therefore, the data they collect is priceless. And if you equip your field team with a peak-performance mobile data collection tool, then you can rest assured knowing that you are taking good care of your invaluable data from the roots up.
Here’s how you can nurture and take care of your field data.
Collect good data, not just data.
Ensure your field team is collecting clean, accurate, and structured data. The best way to guarantee this is to use a strong mobile tool, one that minimizes human error and offers flexible data collection with a user-friendly interface and pre-populated data entry fields with drop down menus. When it comes to poorly executed plans and merchandising strategies, weak data is often the culprit.
Real-time data is king.
Historical data is useful; you can see past trends and learn from mistakes. However, when it comes to correcting problems or adjusting plans, you need data that represents what’s happening now, not past weeks or months. The shorter the lag time is between the time stamp on data and the implementation of a new strategy, the more likely the strategy is to be successful. Real-time data allows for faster response time, and when it comes to damage control, this is vital.
Ensure your data is safe and secure.
Cloud storage eliminates the need for extra servers and reduces the risk of data loss. Furthermore, it’s a convenient, cost effective way to store data and access it easily. Find a mobile application tool that offers cloud storage and also comes with enhanced safeguards and security measures. A strong mobile data collection tool should offer data encryption, strong password requirements, user authentication provisions, and periodic automated security checks.
Give your data the reporting it deserves.
Valuable data is worthy of a reporting mechanism that allows it to be easily interpreted, analyzed, and shared. Arm yourself with analytical tools that will maximize your insights derived from your data. Use a field data collection software system that displays data reports instantly—cleanly organizing and aggregating information and rich-media intelligence. A dashboard that presents elegant, user-friendly graphs and charts should be a built in backend feature that doesn’t require additional effort and work by end users. Instant data aggregation and structuring not only saves time, but it also eliminates ambiguity and reporting errors, thereby improving retail execution.
Take care of your field data. When it comes to answering the important question of how to improve retail sales—your field data is priceless.
