CGs Embrace Retail Execution Tech to Increase Employee Engagement
This will come as no surprise to anyone - but even with one year of pandemic-prep and learnings, many leading CG brands and their field teams are still struggling to pivot communications, plans, and new field processes to this day.
With research proving that employee engagement drives both growth and profitability at companies, certain brands and manufacturers remain focused on keeping their teams engaged, motivated and aligned by leaning into their existing technology stack. Now with a year under their belt, a few of these top brands are reflecting on the unanticipated benefits they’ve discovered using retail execution platforms to ensure team safety, engagement, support and camaraderie with their employees, particularly those in the field - with technology they already have in their hands.
Kraft Keeps Field Teams Engaged, Motivated
Recently, Kraft Heinz received top honors being named one of the top employers in Canada in by Forbes and attributed the progress they’ve made over the years to the strong relationship with technology platforms to keep their employees engaged, supported, and on track. “The [Repsly] system is one of the main reasons the team has been able to quantify, communicate and streamline their whole field experience,” said Sunur Bharadwaj, manager of Field Sales Excellence.
Deploying Safety Measures and Staying Engaged
Like Kraft Heinz, the team at Greenhouse Juice Co. was also equipped to respond quickly as the pandemic forced their priorities in the field to change. “We don’t just use technology like Repsly for the data component, but also as an engagement tool, giving the team visibility into the other reps to entice some friendly competition or to humble brag about their placements, and ultimately, to support each other and share ideas,” said Kate Teeter, a field merchandising manager at Greenhouse. “It’s something that we're really pushing for this year. The team's been great at using it in the past, but we’re making that an even bigger focus in 2021 given COVID restrictions and remote working.”
With health and safety being top of mind for Greenhouse, Teeter explained how they created COVID safety surveys for their field reps to ensure they have PPE, can provide a contactless visit, and meet specific store protocols. “We may not be able to actually touch the shelves, stock the product, or check for rotation, but we wanted to make sure that we could still get that data that's so important to us,” Teeter said.
Maintaining a Strong Connection
Third-party merchandiser, Market Recon, saw similar successes leveraging their existing technology stack during the pandemic to find unexpected benefits. “Half of my job became like HR – managing the hysteria of moving parts,” said Mathew Clark, president of Market Recon. “Our retail technology tools didn’t just help us adjust schedules, routes, and surveys, but it allowed us to really stay connected - sending out clear and calm communications, providing real-time updates to our team, and keeping our reps motivated and safe. It was way more than just our retail execution tool.”
Matthew Depaolis is chief customer officer at Repsly, Inc., where he is responsible for leading teams of talented professionals focused on growing customer value. Matt is an innovative global SaaS business leader with more than 15 years of experience delivering technology solutions. He has a passion for building diverse global teams and loves helping CPG firms leverage data to surface actionable business insights.