Communication and teamwork drive success for inside and outside reps

By Laura Thill

John Frassetto, a field rep with Webster Veterinary Supply Inc. (Kansas City, Mo.), drives as many as 500 miles each week if that’s what it takes to see his customers. Jackie Paradies, an inside rep with Webster, spends her days either on the phone with customers or researching products, and rarely has a quiet moment to herself. Whether face-to-face or over the phone, field reps and inside reps both strive to provide the best value to their veterinary customers. It makes sense that, together, they can meet their customers’ needs more efficiently. But, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the best sales teams are a product of impeccable communication.

Cheryl Peterson Barile, regional sales manager, Midwest Veterinary Supply (Burnsville, Minn.), knows sales inside and out – literally. A registered veterinary technician, she started out as an inside sales rep. From there, Barile became a field rep for 20 years and, for the last 10 years, has worked as regional sales manager. Today, she oversees 13 field reps and is responsible for a full territory. “I [am in the field] every day,” she says. “[My reps’] struggles are mine.” Being a field rep is more than a full-time job, she points out. “Field sales reps must stay on top of a lot of details.” Between calling on customers, tracking orders, managing expense reports, fielding UPS deliveries and working with the manufacturer reps, the job can be demanding. “We don’t want these things to pile up,” she says. “Field sales reps are on full throttle. They’re in for a full ride, and it can lead to burnout.”

At the same time, Barile identifies with the inside reps’ demands. “Inside reps touch their customers many more times a day, and sometimes they focus on different things than the outside reps do,” she says. In addition, inside reps must manage a large amount of information in order to process both incoming and outbound calls. For the sales process to run smoothly and efficiently, communication is key, she points out. “This means, ensuring I communicate with my reps, as well as getting the reps to communicate with one another,” she says. And while voice mail, e-mail and BlackBerrys make it that much easier for field and inside reps to stay in touch, the constant back-and-forth can be time consuming, she notes. But, the bottom line is, “we must communicate in order that we meet our goals and provide the customer with the best service.”

Jeff Parker, Fort Wayne, Ind., branch manager at Midwest Veterinary Supply, agrees. His biggest challenge is making sure all 14 of the inside sales reps he manages are well informed. “There are so many changes for them to keep up with,” he points out. “If [our reps] don’t make a promotion known to the customer, [the competition] will.” Communication is key to ensuring the customers’ needs are met, he adds. The better Parker communicates with his reps, and the more closely they communicate with their outside counterparts, the more successfully they will meet their customers’ needs.

“Whether they are working inside or outside, we want our sales reps to become experts on products and a great resource,” says Ron Huggard, Great Plains branch manager, Webster Veterinary Supply, Inc. (Devens, Mass.). Field and inside sales reps share similar goals, he points out. “They both must build trust and establish a relationship with their customers. They must identify their clients’ needs and ensure they understand the features and benefits of our products and services. But, mainly, we want all of our reps to focus on meeting their customers’ needs.”

As a manager of both field and inside reps, Huggard takes a big-picture approach to sales. As a manager, he must ensure that field and inside reps:
• Stay focused on the customer.
• Listen to what their customers say.
• Bring value to their customers.
• Ask the right questions.
• Receive proper training to meet the customers’ goals and expectations.

Most important, he must ensure the branch goals are crystal clear so that both field sales reps and inside reps can meet those goals.

A day in the life: The field rep

If there’s one thing John Frassetto’s customers can count on, it’s that he’ll return their call by 4 a.m. “My customers know they can call me any time,” he says. And, they know that, though he may be sound asleep before Late Night TV airs, he will be available to solve their problems long before the sun rises the next morning.

“I begin my day as early as I can,” he continues, noting that his home is his office. “I start out by turning on the computer and reviewing the previous day’s invoices. I look for extraordinary purchases so that I can thank those customers. I check e-mails and [take note of] which customers I must follow up with.” If things run smoothly, Frassetto is out the door by 6 a.m., and certainly never later than 7:30 a.m. But, though his day may appear to run like clockwork, he makes a point to never wear a watch, he says. “I don’t want time to be a distraction,” he explains. “I watch my customers’ body language. That’s what tells me if [our meeting] is over.” After all, he says, the clinic is the customer’s home. “Customers invite me in [and provide me with the opportunity] to introduce them to new products. But, if a situation arises (e.g., an injured dog comes in), that dictates that our meeting is over. I must be very flexible.”

Twenty-one years of field sales experience has helped Frassetto develop a system for reaching out to as many customers as possible while ensuring he respects each clinic’s protocols. “When I come to a clinic, I always clarify with the receptionist who is the decision maker, who I should meet with, and when is the best day and time to come in,” he says. “So, I [know to visit a particular clinic] Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.,” he explains. “That’s how I structure my time. It’s not based on geography.” Perhaps his greatest challenge on a call is to keep in mind that “what happens in a clinic is business,” he says. “I can’t take it personally when a veterinarian buys [products] from another distributor. The more a distributor realizes this, the greater chance [he or she] has of moving forward.”

Frassetto’s days wind down in the evening, when he returns home and logs into his computer, updating information, reviewing and processing orders and following up with customers. At the end of the day, about 80 percent of his time will have been spent visiting customers, 10 percent will have been devoted to phone calls, and another 10 percent will have been set aside for processing orders. And, while the hectic pace may not work for some, Frassetto appreciates “the flexibility of what I do.” Indeed, Webster Veterinary Supply provides the necessary support (e.g., training, warehouse sales support, inside sales support, product knowledge, etc.) as well as the flexibility to manage his territory as he is most comfortable doing, he explains.

However, busy as he is, Frassetto never loses sight of what his inside counterparts do. In fact, at Webster Veterinary Supply, field reps and their inside counterparts are paired up as sales teams. “What the inside sales reps do is tremendous,” he points out. For one, the fact that they must conduct all of their business over the phone “removes them from how they are able to handle situations,” he says, noting that a face-to-face meeting can help soften an awkward situation. “Inside reps must establish all of their relationships over the phone, which can be very difficult,” he says. “When I go into a clinic, I see what’s going on [and respond accordingly].” Not only that, inside sales reps often have a much larger territory to field,” he adds. “They are calling out or taking calls all day long, which can be very challenging.”

It’s clear that Frassetto understands and respects the job done by inside sales reps. “As with any relationship, the biggest thing here is communication and trust,” he says. “I don’t want to take [my inside rep partner] away from her job, but I do want to keep her in the loop so that she’s not caught off guard by a customer.” So, by 9:30 a.m. Frassetto easily has already sent his inside rep partner an e-mail, forwarded a message and spoken with her twice, he points out. “I also want to show [her] that I trust her. I don’t go over details of what she does.” Rather, he trusts her to follow up with customers, send literature, etc. “If I trust her, she can do her job.”

A day in the life: Inside rep

Jackie Paradies may not know what her customers look like as an inside sales rep at Webster. But she knows their needs, likes and dislikes when it comes to finding the best solutions for their clinic. Her day begins like that of Frassetto’s, with an e-mail review to check on orders. “We check on backorders and process online orders,” she says. “Then we begin our basic daily calls to customers. We focus on new sales, detail weekly specials or review customers’ weekly orders (so that the customer doesn’t need to call the sales reps).”
As the day wears on, inside reps such as Paradies also “complete paperwork and ensure all orders have been processed,” she explains. “We are either on the phone or researching products to ensure they meet the customers’ needs. When an item is discontinued, we research replacement items.” As do field sales reps, Paradies and her inside colleagues also attend regular sales meetings.
In addition to her own territory, she is teamed up with two field sales reps. “We have a very close working relationship,” she says. “We need to make sure both [inside and outside reps] know what is going on with the customer. So, we are on the phone a lot and have quarterly [in-person] meetings.” Some reps find it easier to communicate through e-mail, she adds. “It depends very much on how the two feel comfortable working together. But, communication is everything.”

Working together

Field reps and inside reps lead completely different work lives, with a unique set of challenges, according to Huggard. “It’s completely different when you have a face-to-face conversation compared with talking over the phone,” he says. “In a face-to-face [experience], reps can read people’s body language and speak with more than one individual at a time.” Also, to a degree, field reps can plan which customers they call on and when they call on them, he points out. Still, their day is extremely full, from planning their call cycles and scheduling visits, to delivering sales presentations, bringing out teams of equipment specialists and practice software management specialists, to setting up training sessions for clients (or clients and vendor partners) and assisting customers with their online orders.

In comparison, inside sales reps not only answer phones and respond to customer requests, they build online orders, provide the customer with product and service information, identify, research and resolve customer issues, research various topics for customers and follow up on inquiries, notes Huggard. “Customer service reps never know who will call in next,” he says. “They have to handle many different types of calls during the day, so the call center must be a structured environment.”

One of Huggard’s challenges is ensuring his inside reps understand and appreciate their outside counterparts’ challenges, and vice versa. To accomplish this, Webster’s corporate management team takes a focused approach:
• Create inside/outside sales teams to ensure both types of reps get to know each other.
• Provide similar product training for both field and inside reps.
• Encourage interaction at sales meetings.
• Educate all sales reps about the value of understanding one another’s responsibilities.

“Whether they are inside or field reps, we want them to become experts on products and a good resource for our customers,” says Huggard. “We want them to be able to identify the client’s needs, ensure the customer understands the features and benefits of our products and services, and establish a relationship and build trust with the customer. But, mostly, we want all of our reps to focus on meeting the customers’ needs.

“Outside reps drive the sales process, but both groups of reps are equally important,” says Huggard. “We provide incentives for both groups to drive them to their common goals. We encourage daily communication and ensure they both are good listeners.”

Parker agrees that good communication is key to an efficient sales team, especially since field reps and inside reps have very different responsibilities. Whereas field reps average six to eight sales calls each day, inside reps speak with as many as 60 customers in one day, he notes. “Field reps have their days mapped out and [typically] know where they’re going,” he explains. Inside reps, on the other hand, “must be prepared for anything. When they take inbound calls, they may go from a small-animal call to a large-animal call. Their expertise may not be swine, but they may have to go there,” he points out.

Ninety percent of the time, inside and field sales reps understand one another’s jobs, Parker points out. In fact, their main sales goals (keeping the customer satisfied and meeting his or her needs) generally overlap. “But, some things they don’t experience and, [as such], they can’t know them. My biggest challenge is making sure everyone is informed.” Whether via e-mail, BlackBerry or other smart phones, inside and field sales reps need to “keep one another in the loop,” he says.

And, they’re doing a better job doing so, notes Barile. “We are learning more and more [about working together],” she says. “We work well with our inside sales reps. I often walk out of a clinic and get on the phone with an inside rep. After we take our orders, we [almost immediately] call them in to our inside rep.” And, the inside sales reps do equally well staying in touch with their outside counterparts, she adds. “They often send a quick note to our BlackBerry, [letting us know] what is going on with a customer. I stress with my reps that communication is key, and I think they do a great job with this.”