Integrating Route Planning with Salesforce – Definition, Benefits & Significance

Managing sales means coordinating different tasks simultaneously. Your sales teams know the real drill behind its smooth functioning if you own logistics. Everything can be catered to with extra labor and effort, from packing orders to scheduling deliveries. But route optimization is a back-breaking task.

Roads are unpredictable, and so is last-mile delivery. This can be problematic if the business faces delivery delays and rescheduling.  An average cost of 17.2 US dollars was recorded for every failed delivery. It will not only cost you profits but will leave a bad impression on the customers. 

Considering this problem, a business must invest in route planning and management software. Further route planning integration with Salesforce can boost the process. This article is for you if you are unaware of Salesforce and its integration with route planning.

What is Salesforce?

As the scope of data generation is increasing every day, businesses need a platform to leverage the maximum potential of customer data. 

Salesforce CRM is one such platform that has the scope of helping businesses find more leads and close successful deals. 

Salesforce is an American company that makes cloud-based software and offers CRM services. It is the ideal tool for sales reps, support teams, and marketing executives across the globe. 

It allows your brand to maintain a good reputation amongst your customers. Your logistics team will work well with better communication and enhanced productivity.

Why Use Salesforce?

The utilization of data is the key to running and thriving any business. Earlier, the companies didn’t have sufficient resources to utilize all their data. 

Soon, the volume of data increased for businesses to handle and analyze. Therefore, the sales team of every company was asked to get acquainted with new CRM solutions.

Salesforce developed the CRM concept and started offering it entirely as an online service. Logistics and other businesses can go deeper into sales data and metrics. 

Moreover, it also offers you the scope of automating major optimization services. In short, this solution intends to enhance your sales performance. 

It has worked wonders for the field sales performance. The logistics companies can track what their customers expect and think of them. Based upon that, they can amend the services to attain customer satisfaction. 

Sharing Information with Sales Reps to Close More Deals

Salesforce allows you to share the customer data with each member of the field sales teams. Hence, this offers them everything they need to optimize routes and carry out multiple deliveries within a short time. 

The entire sales process can be managed from a mobile device. Your team members can stay connected with the route planner and Salesforce through a mobile application. It will help them get updates on delivering packages throughout the pipeline. 

Any need for an instant change in route, the notification will be sent to the delivery driver for following the updated optimal routes. 

The mapping technology of a route planner and the CRM integration of Salesforce can enhance the team’s sales performance in logistics management. 

Salesforce optimizes the data to guide you with the focus area. You can then use the location intelligence of your software and CRM data to plan the executions further. 

What is Route Planning?

Route planning is the method where the computing process helps you find the most cost-efficient delivery route. You can create routes and simplify the process of optimizing routes within a few clicks.

Earlier, the customers were just happy with the thought that the delivery companies were giving them their products at home. Irrespective of the wait time of a few days, they were satisfied with the service. 

But it is not the same today! They are now looking for same-day deliveries and companies are offering it too! 

People readily pay additional subscription amounts to delivery or e-commerce vendors to get their packages at the earliest. Therefore, the companies must upgrade to the best route planning software to meet the rising customer demands. 

For instance, Amazon is the biggest e-commerce giant across the globe. It has launched Amazon Prime as a high-end subscription for people to get common items delivered to the doorstep within a day or two.

They execute route planning software with many other integrated applications to smoothen up their delivery process. The smaller businesses now understand the need and are also coping with the integrations. 

The present-day delivery route scheduling and planning have become complex. It is necessary to consider the weather, traffic, availability of customers, and optimized sales routes per last-minute requirements. 

With the right route planning software, it is easy to consider these factors. Hence, this will enable multiple stops within a specific route to cover maximum customer deliveries. 

So, with this smart inclusion of technology and automation, the logistics sector is becoming a profitable service. 

Businesses gain the potential of constantly monitoring the last-mile changes, which can affect the delivery route or network. Constant monitoring gives scope to optimize the schedule with an alternative route.

Why did Traditional Route Planning Fail Today?

Earlier, the companies used to follow the traditional route planning strategies. Over time, these strategies started to fail. And there are evident reasons for that to happen. 

Therefore, intelligent route planning is the modern-day initiative to make faster delivery promises come to action. Here are some reasons why they fail and how modern route planning helps:

1. Missing out on Real-Time Visibility

As customer expectations change, the companies observed that manual pen and paper planning is not contributing to their growth. 

As per the statistics, around 52% of all field service businesses are still conducting their route planning through pen and paper. 

The customers expect faster deliveries to get satisfaction from a purchase. But, the manual paper and pen strategies of route planning are not serving the purpose. Instead, it is making the process even more complex. 

There will be no scope of rectifying the delivery route on the go if something goes sideways with the pen-paper route scheduling. 

Such instances have hampered the reputations of many small and medium-sized logistics companies. Therefore, the need for monitoring the delivery fleet in real-time was urged with intelligent route planning.

2. Inaccurate ETAs and Increase in Empty Miles

The traditional route planning methods offered inaccurate ETAs to the customers through their portals. As there was no predictive technology behind those estimated dates, the delivery trucks frequently missed them. 

As a result, the customer support team faced the pressure of handling unsatisfied customers. The brand’s reputation will take a hit! 

Another reason the manually predicted ETAs failed was the increase in empty miles. 

Empty miles are defined as the specific route window with no deliveries. Proper route planning intends to reduce and add more deliveries in a single route. 

Inaccurate route planning will cover minimal deliveries in a vast route. As a result, the delivery vehicle would run many miles for nothing. Hence, this eats up the service time and costs more to the company. 

Different vehicles will be allotted for specific deliveries that could have been arranged on the same route for previous vehicles. 

The route planners tend to offer accurate Estimated Time of Arrival or ETAs for the package deliveries. Following that, it reduces the empty miles for delivery trucks.

3. Increased Consumption of Fuel

The traditional route planning with pen and paper is inefficient in mapping the ideal delivery routes. As a result, the fuel costs go up as well! 

Without technology, a massive lack of information prevents monitoring vital delivery elements. As a result, fuel consumption and empty mile driving increase. 

A perfect mapping or routing software can give you insight into fuel consumption and help you create optimized routes. 

The sales management team will experience a cost cut on the logistics services of their business. And this is how modern-day route planning is taking over the traditional ways.

4. Lack of Customer Awareness

Without technology, the companies fail to keep their customers informed about their packages. 

Suppose there is some unavoidable circumstance that might cause a delay in delivery. In that case, the customer must have an update about the same through tracking measures. 

Traditional route planning misses out on this vital element, which hampers the reputation of logistic businesses. Therefore, intelligent route planning is the stand-alone solution to plan routes and look after customer awareness.

What are the Benefits of Route Planning Integration with Salesforce?

Here are its benefits to help you better understand the profitability of this route planning integration with Salesforce:

1. Helps sales team

It allows sales teams to make plans based on location intelligence. The team can analyze your data and make sales territories to help outside sales reps. 

The overall streamlining of the process boosts sales productivity and achieves their desired target with finesse. The integration aids the territory management and maximum efficiency.

2. Easy set up

It is easy to set up and use. You can use the integration of route planning and Salesforce to fulfill your business needs and make informed decisions. You can extract detailed information using the powerful tool that can help you streamline your business process.

With the easy setup, you can collect all your data in one place and simplify the data management and sales territory management.

3. Graphical representation of data

You get a dashboard with a graphical representation of data. It can help you better analyze the data and extract valuable data insights that can optimize the business operations.

The graphical representation can help you paint a better picture and help you forecast future scenarios easily.

4. Smooth tracking

You can track the customers, contact details, and accounts through the CRM portal of Salesforce. The key features of the integration can help you effectively track the required data within a few clicks.

5. Map-based interface

A map-based interface allows you to put up deeper engagement with existing customers. It can help you attract more customers and strengthen relationships with your existing ones. You can scale your business operation to new heights and unlock the best-desired results.

Things to Keep in Mind Before Using Salesforce Map with its CRM for Route Optimization

Before you can use the Salesforce maps for your field sales activities, you should count on knowing a few things on priority. They include

1. You can manage the sales territories on geographic terms and divide them as per the Salesforce data. 
2. You need to be aware of the pricing of Salesforce maps for integrating them into your route planning software. The pricing for Salesforce Sales Cloud CRM starts from $25/month and goes up to $300 per month for different versions. 
3. Learn how to install Salesforce maps to the CRM after purchasing it. You need to follow the specific steps to acquire it. 
4. This tool seeks conversion of all of the Salesforce data in an interactive map to direct the logistics sales team to execute the services rightfully. 
5. The territory map will help the entire sales team plan the strategic maps.

Why is Route Planning an Important Part of Delivery Management?

When you are just starting your logistics or field sales & service business, you might not need a route planner software or a planned sales route. 

You will have limited products and a handful of customers to operate the deliveries. 

But, as the company tends to grow and the customer count increases, you will find it difficult to manage the order fulfillment, cost management, and team management. 

You must be very aware of all the possible issues that can arise throughout a delivery process. The sales leaders and the logistics head should be aware that everything is running perfectly. 

A perfect route planner can help you solve all of your delivery problems. You will be able to rectify the late delivery problems, offer accurate tracking details to customers, and track the performance of the entire logistics team. 

When you integrate mapping software into your logistics services, you can monitor the perfect utilization of your business resources. 

You can check if a resource’s functionality contributes well to a business’s success. It will reduce the driving hours and road accident possibilities and maximize employees’ time. 

The customers will come for more in the future when they have a good experience with the delivery aspect in their first order.

Integrate Salesforce CRM with Upper Route Planner

Using Salesforce CRM software for your business? Why not integrate it with the best route planning software, Upper Route Planner. 

Integrating with Upper, You can reduce working time, get more orders, auto-allocation, and save routes for future reference. You can directly drop the CSV file and get your optimized routes ready within seconds. 

This means you will not need any manual intervention to check the availability of fleets and drivers. Ultimately, it will reduce your operational costs and there would be no hassle in managing delivery operations.

The software will help you manage your last-mile delivery processes and achieve your desired business outcomes. So, if you are into the delivery business, Upper is made for business owners like you.

Conclusion

And that’s how simple it is to integrate the salesforce CRM with the right route planner. The automated software reduces the workload by assigning routes to the available drivers. It means you just have to integrate your system with a route planner and it will take care of the rest. Just like salesforce takes care of your monthly sales target, Upper lends you a helping hand in managing delivery operations. 

As a result, a combination of these two worthy software can help you achieve your financial goals with fewer resources. Book a demo with us to learn how a route planner could be a virtual assistant for your business.