I have been in outside sales the last 18 years and really like new technology. That being said I believe CRM software is really in place for your replacement. It makes it easier for a company to transition needed Information if it is accurate . My draw is about 10% of my annual salary not including bonus. Typically I travel 2-3 weeks a month minus the last 12 months which I have only been on 4 flights which is sad. I have driven to customers and the 4 flights were all customers that needed an in person visit. The company I work for is all about taking care of the customer and provides the flexibility to let that happen. The one thing that I can assure you of is a person can either sell or they can’t. A person that can sell is worth every penny they earn. A person that can’t sell is just hurting the company and needs to go. I agree numbers don’t lie, but lazy dishonest sales people do. A good sales person wants to go sell, let them.

This. COVID is an excuse to a point. I’m seeing more excuses why outside salesman are losing business. If you have a relationship with the end user there are ways to maintain it. Texts, phone calls, emails and a tail gate meeting at a job site will go along way to show customers you are there for them. At the end of the month the numbers don’t lie.

Some industries won’t support a 25% salary and 75% commission. Usually it’s high dollar, large items that a sale takes a really long time. I worked in an industry like this once. It was mostly relationship building with each customer maybe making one or two purchases a year. I agree with what was said above about spending more and more time filling out paperwork or entering information. I hate it but do it because it’s expected. My biggest complaint though about it is when management tells us it will help us be more organized and make more money, when in reality it’s so they have information should we leave the company. If they think we are stupid enough to believe it’s for our own good, then we are too stupid to do our jobs.

There is probably a CRM specific to your industry. CRM for our industry is what we use.
Serious/ Hi performing sales folks won't use it seriously/completely. Under performers will game it. Result is the information you expected to get from your Outside sales mgmt tool is always flawed. Always. Outside of a company truck, my compensation is just enough to cover my annual health ins premiums. I am 95% commission. Company does have 5 holidays, but we get no vacation.
Any structure where over 30-40% of compensation is straight salary, isn't a true sales job. It is a " I can fake this long enough to find something else " job.
Our company decided to use good Regional Sales managers to "inspect what they expect". Joint calls, updates on deals you are working.
They use "pipeline management" - we turn in a pipeline with % chance to close ( 40%/70%/95%). BS gets exposed pretty quick. Strong consistent performance is rewarded with an ownership interest in the company.If the pipeline or prospects never change much, those people get weeded out pretty quick.

Hire for character, train for skill and your folks will take care of your business and you. If a prospective hire is more interested in salary / comp plans / vacation than rather than insurance and
what he is selling, that person probably isn't what you need. Just my .02 based on being in sales / business development for 25+ years.

Ask them to show you what "Their" daily routine/plan is. If they don't have a plan, they aren't working.

Know the territory as well or better than the reps themselves. This cuts down on the BS and allows you to better manage/direct your force to where their time can be better spent.

Weekly meetings are great, but they need to be very focused. What did you accomplish from last week and what are you doing next week.

Make sure they are good at web based meetings such as GoToMeeting, Teams etc. There is no excuse for them to not be in front of customers with the technology available today.

If the reps can't get a customers attention now, then they didn't have it pre-covid either.

Yep and you don't even have to have an app or a specialized computer program. Just have them make a schedule/plan for the next week that they send you every Friday with detailed notes about all the prospects/cold calls and current customers. I'd just make the slackers do it. Then just follow up on one or two and catch them lying about what they have been doing

I was a sales rep most of my career prior to owning my own business the last 19 years. Reps were independent contractors. We were paid on a small salary and heavy commission basis. Early on we were evaluated solely on numbers and it wasn’t hard to see who was either getting it done, struggling, or lazy. The company became middle management heavy and they instituted weekly sales reports (in my view to justify their lofty salaries). We represented 38 manufacturers at the time and within 6 months every one of them wanted a detailed sales report. The sales reports literally took me out of production an entire day of every week and cost me significant income. Some of the more productive guys in our group refused to do it and were summarily replaced with younger, cheaper, and less productive guys who were obviously less respected in the field. I saw the political games and position jockeying being played by middle management as hand writing on the wall and left a career I initially thought I was born for. Every one of the sales reps knew who were producers, and who was just plain lazy. Those who were struggling were invited, privately, by us older guys to spend a week in our territories with us to step up their game. We all knew who “moved the needle” and who was “riding the bus”. Prior to the middle management movement ownership knew the same and we were considered the best group in the industry. That same group has lost their most productive manufacturers and are struggling to survive.
You managers / owners would do well to get involved with guys individually. Ride with strugglers in the territory and occasionally with producers. It doesn’t take long to figure it out. If you choose to move to heavy commission compensation don’t demand too much of a producers time away from his ability to produce.

I'm in Procurement. In general, I don't need to see sales reps as long as they answer their phone. Many of my suppliers are 500+ miles away from me.

My personal thought is that the producers in your group are probably still getting orders. Covid hasn't changed how much we buy, just how many people I see.

I manage a sales team for a fortune 500 company and love Salesforce, not due to tracking my people but for having all the information we need jn one place. We have multiple levels of sales people calling on the same accounts and that keeps people from making the same sales call in the same week. Sfdc can be as detailed as you are willing to pay for. IMO, the best way to track a sales team that isn't micro managing is by tracking opportunities and account growth(new active accounts and/or revenue growth in current accounts. That tells me that they are making targeted effective sales calls vs pencil whipping sfdc.

Put em on commission, sink or swim baby. Lots of lazy reps if you can't keep close tabs on them. If they can't cut it find someone else who can.

Exactly this.. I have worked as a sales manager and an outside salesman for years. The way my company judges sales people on their progress is how many units are sold. It is straight commission mostly, and the slower markets do have a salary with a reduced commission option. CRM and call reports do not work. CRM just helps make management feel good if there is activity on it and give sales people an excuse to be in thee office when they should be in front of prospects. It can also be manipulated, as can sales call reports. The reason people are in sales is so they have the freedom in their schedule, and usually an opportunity to have unlimited income potential. Sounds like you need to look at your hiring practices, or incentivize your pay plan so you build a team of winners. Company culture also goes a long way. It is really that simple.

I’ve done outside sales for 30+ years I’ve seen it all, I think. These three men are giving you the goods.
Micro management don’t work for me or most successful sales people I know. It’s tough developing new talent and there’s a place for salary + commission with new people but I think 100% commission sales with unlimited earning potential is what drives the best and there numbers will show it.
SFDC is a great sales tool if used the right way. I’ve never seen any CRM platform that works or is worth the money. IMHO