Case study
Agile Field Force planning for Lawrence Merchandising Services
Summary
Lawrence Merchandising Services (LMS) is a full-service retail merchandising organisation with experienced field staff across all 50 US states and Canada. The firm is committed to increasing sales and profits for clients in many respected retail brands by delivering in-store solutions for their merchandising needs.
Company size
5,000
Industry
Manufacturing
Products used
Challenge
LMS noticed strong growth in its retail merchandising activities, and from a base of long-standing traditional retail accounts, the firm decided to expand and seize new opportunities. However, with increasingly more retailer accounts across the US and Canada to consider as part of this expansion, the firm needed a solution that would help them better understand their clients’ businesses to deploy field teams efficiently and continue delivering great service.
Michael Terpkosh, Director of Data Analytics at Lawrence Merchandising Services, explains: “Before this, LMS had limited technology resources for field force planning. Say if we were bringing on a new client with 5,000 stores, we would have used Google maps to put pins against their locations, then compared it to a map showing where LMS already had reps working. It was not efficient and didn’t give us multiple scenario modelling or optimisation capabilities.”
Previously, LMS matched the incremental growth of its long-standing customers over time, adding more reps as needed. Michael adds: “With one of our new accounts, we service over 16,000 stores a month. At that level, we needed structured guidance and support with the complex task of refining overlaps with other reps and retail stores. We had to expand our network of field reps quickly but it was vital to do it accurately, investing in the right places to service existing customers and new business.”
Solution
“We chose InSite FieldForce because we could not find any other solution that could handle our volume of business across every US state,” says Michael. “We felt this was the only application that could accommodate our scale and continuing growth.”
InSite FieldForce supports LMS’ move from a traditional merchandising company to a fast-growing, digitally-led business with headroom for further expansion. The solution has enabled LMS to change its approach, moving towards more territory-based reps rather than recruiting for particular accounts. This helps LMS operate more efficiently, with reps working in the area where they live and servicing multiple clients.
The solution is now embedded in LMS’ business processes, from onboarding new clients to continuously reviewing and optimising the deployment of existing reps across the US. CACI’s InSite FieldForce integrates with other software from another provider, giving LMS strong analytics capability across its entire field operation. LMS uses CACI’s InSite FieldForce along with Movista’s Natural Insight software to run LMS Client Services and Operations, enhancing field team performance.
The benefits extend beyond internally and operationally. “We expected to keep InSite FieldForce behind the scenes and use it to optimise our planning. But we’re also using it to demonstrate our capability in RFPs, showing clients the capabilities that we have to work in the field with a widespread account,” Michael explains.
Results
“[InSite FieldForce] helps us with client retention – they know we can adapt and refine our team to match the evolution of their business,” Michael continues. “[During] the pandemic, we had to be more nimble and flexible. When clients have needed us to help them retune their store calling programmes, we’ve been able to do what-if analysis to show the impact of changes to coverage or visit frequency. Clients know we have the tools and expertise to work with them to optimise their approach.”
Using InSite FieldForce at proposal stage means LMS can ensure that new engagements will be profitable. “We typically get a list of stores to be serviced and their addresses – we can plot out the stores and model their estimated service requirements against our existing reps’ locations. That shows us how we’ll need to change our field force – who to add and how to optimise our existing people,” Michael says. “We can predict the costs of recruitment and on-boarding for a new account.”
LMS’ field-based employees have also reaped the benefits. “In the current employment market, some reps are nervous about working on just one or two accounts – they’d rather work with multiple accounts and work more hours. InSite FieldForce means we can optimise our workforce to give people those opportunities,” Michael continues. “We want to hire great reps who will be motivated in their work: it’s a virtuous circle as clients then get high quality representation from committed, expert people.”
