What Is Sales Route Planning?

Sales route optimization is the process of organizing customer addresses into the most optimal sequence, so that field sales reps spend less time driving and more time selling. It solves two complicated combinatorial problems: the Vehicle Route Problem (VRP) and the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP). These problems become nearly impossible to solve manually as the number of possible routes increases exponentially when adding more stops and business variables to the equation.

Sales Route Optimization Software

Sales route optimization software is a route planner that should help field sales teams automatically organize hundreds of thousands of customer addresses into the most time-efficient and cost-effective routes while minimizing drive time and maximizing sales. The best route optimization software for sales or the delivery route planner should allow sales reps to:

• Import customers’ data directly from customer relationship management (CRM) software such as HubSpot and Zoho.
• Organize the imported addresses into easy-to-customize territories on an interactive map.
• Plan the most optimal routes within each created territory to reduce the time spent in traffic.
• Set service time windows for each customer and factor those in when creating routes to decrease downtime and close more deals.
• Synchronize their calendar with their routes and never miss a meeting again.
• Use Route4Me’s Android and iOS mobile apps to have all data at hand and create, manage, and navigate routes on the go.

How to Optimize Sales Routes?

You can optimize sales routes with a delivery route planner or Route Optimization Software since it allows you to create, optimize, and dispatch the most optimal routes in less than 10 minutes while factoring in parameters such as:

• Service time windows
• Weather conditions
• Traffic congestions, road works, and more

By optimizing sales routes, you will reduce payroll and fuel expenses and increase your reps’ productivity levels as they will spend less time driving and more time selling.