The primary responsibilities of a field sales executive is to sell a product or service in the territory or geographic area to which the sales executive is assigned. The sales representative does this by building and maintaining relationships with prospective and current customers. Depending on the company, product and service, the field sales executive may only be responsible for making the sale. In other companies, the representative remains the point of contact with the clients and continues to service their needs.
Once the field sales executive identifies a prospective customer, it is the representative’s job to meet with the prospect to find out their needs and wants. From the meeting, the sales representative creates a proposal in an attempt to win the prospect over as a client. Once the field sales executive lands the customer, the representative handles any contract, paperwork or documents that need to be filled out to complete the deal.
The field sales executive typically travels around their territory to visit the existing base of clients. This is in an attempt to check up on the inventory of products or to see how the service the company is using is working for them the way they want. This is an opportunity for the field sales executive to make a new sale to replenish inventory or to up-sell the customer to the next level of service.
Negotiating with clients and prospects is a major skill that a field sales executive needs to conduct their job in an efficient and effective manner. Since the representative is going to the client instead of the client coming to the company to buy the products or services, this can make for a harder sale for the representative. Clients tend to want better pricing, to barter and negotiate when they have a sales representative coming to them instead of them going to the sales representative or the store to buy what customer needs.
Since the field sales executive is the liaison between the customer and the company the representative works for, the sales representative plays a pivotal role. The field sales executive receives feedback and suggestions from prospects and clients. The representative takes this information back to their company, which can lead to improving existing products or services, or the creation of new products and services. Ultimately, this all leads to a boost in sales because the company is meeting the needs and wants of existing clients and attracting new clients.
