This article is from Liu Zhao, CEO of Field365.

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SaaS in the country set off a large wave of fever, the study of SaaS has gradually deepened. A lot of media, many research institutions have done on SaaS classification, the most common are OA, ERP, CRM, HR, etc., and, on many occasions, there is a new classification, called "field class".

The Cui Niu will be the group of sleepers will be discussed from time to time also mentioned this "field class". Then this "field class", in the end, what is a ghost, as the founder of the field 365, it is necessary to come out to speak.

In fact, this should be quite happy, because the highest state of the brand, is their own brand word as a synonym for the industry, such as Wang Lao Ji almost become "herbal tea" synonymous with field 365 has become synonymous with field class. But a closer analysis reveals that it's not as good as it seems. Look at the Baidu index in the chart below:

The Baidu search index for "Field 365" is maintained at around 1,200, while "Field" is only around 300. In other words, 'Field 365' is actually more popular than the word 'field'. So it's not so much that "Field 365" has become the representative of the "Field Service" category, but rather that the rise of "Field 365" has driven the "Field Service" category (smile).

So what's the "field" category? Most laypeople think that apps like attendance, check-in, work tracking, and the like, for people who don't work in an office, are in the field category. Because this type of application before the emergence of smart phones and APP, can not be realized. More because of its simplicity and practicality, but also combined with SaaS can quickly popularize the major enterprises, so it became very popular, and gradually formed a new category of management software.

In addition to Field365, the market based on WeChat Enterprise program, the program based on Nail, as well as the vast majority of collaboration, OA SaaS products have a similar function.

And unlike the amateurs who look at it, the insiders look at the doorway. All management software has an intrinsic nature, is a combination of customer needs, management thinking and implementation of the methodology, as insiders know, OA is not just a document approval, ERP is by no means just sales and marketing inventory. So what is the nature of the field?

Field 365 that one of the essence of Sales?Activity management, that is, the management of sales behavior. Enterprise field staff, can be considered mainly by the "pan-sales staff" constitute, even door-to-door air conditioning repair master, in fact, is also a sales person, in selling their own services as well as air conditioning spare parts. Laymen will think, sales do not need to manage behavior, as long as you can sign a single on the line, can sign a single sales at home to sleep can also be.

This is a classic misreading. The background is that over the past few decades, doing business in China has relied heavily on "relationships". Then what kind of sales can sign a single it, have "relations" sales can sign a single, dare to give kickbacks to the sales can sign a single, for this kind of sales, do not need to manage behavior.

But the development of the country, the laws and regulations are more perfect, sales of this big career direction is also changing rapidly, the traditional rely on the relationship by the mode of kickbacks, began to gradually not work. Sales more need to go to the customer to show the value of the product, take the pharmaceutical industry sales, medical representatives to visit doctors frequently, organize all kinds of academic conferences, case analysis, to the doctor to pass their own company's value of the drug, the use of, and even need to organize the doctors to share with each other the use of drugs and clinical experience.

If this kind of Sales?Activity is not done well, it is impossible to complete the sales. In foreign pharmaceutical companies, the requirements for "compliance" are more stringent, so the management of sales activities and the requirements for assessment are particularly high, and they are also the first customers to use "field" products.

In my opinion, a good sales director should summarize the methods to improve the sales performance of the enterprise, and implement them. Any industry has its own sales logic, that is, how to get good sales (performance), as a marketing management software, first of all, the customer's sales logic to have a deep understanding, and then make products that meet or even exceed the customer's expectations, rather than just a pile of features.

Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry, for example, the logic of sales is to spread the goods as much as possible (to put the goods into more stores to sell) and do a good job of moving sales (do a good job of display and promotions, so that the stores as much as possible to sell the goods), so you need a lot of ground sales staff to run the stores, and do a good job of the company's rules and regulations (visit the eight steps).

As a sales director in the FMCG industry, it is very important to ensure that the sales staff to visit the stores periodically, the provisions of the visit action in place. Watchers see here can basically understand, this is not a simple attendance check-in can be stacked to complete the need to combine customer information, commodity information, sales staff information, for different roles in the definition of different visit action, work plan and line, but also need to output a variety of dimensions of the report. Management software, is a complete and complex system.

Just said the essence of one of the Sales?Activity management, then the essence of the second call. In the sales out to visit customers, visit the store, the formation of the management of the customer, because the visit of the action, and customers, and the channel is closely related to the voice on the comment table at this time became "field class is CRM". In my opinion, there is no absolute right and wrong.

1, sales and customers are originally lips and teeth dependent on the two elements, it is impossible to get away from the customer to see the sales (that sales of all the actions on the root), it is even more impossible to get away from the sales to see the customer (that does not need to manage the software, to get an Excel record of the customer file can be).

2, the management software itself, the boundaries and fuzzy. ERP also has a CRM part of the function, some OA also has a CRM part of the function, there are HR functions, there are CRM also has ERP functions, the junction between each other is very much.

3, there are also comments that "field" absolutely does not belong to the CRM, it seems that CRM must have a pure pedigree to work. For example, after Login must be able to see Leads, Opportunity, these menus are called CRM, to which I can only laugh.

CRM itself is also a big system. salesforce from SFA started (many domestic CRM companies claimed to have a pure pedigree, in fact, is to do a SFA, there are more companies only do a SFA fur), to now have Sales?Cloud, Marketing?Cloud, Service? Cloud, which covers a wider and wider range of things.

So it's not appropriate to categorize Field Service as CRM. It's not unreasonable to call it a separate "field category". However, each company is an individual, with its own distinctive characteristics, and its own ideas and methods. Field 365 is to start from the management of sales staff, and gradually penetrate to help enterprises manage customers, management channels, management orders, management of goods. Our thinking is to use the Internet to help enterprises improve efficiency.

The market environment is changing, science and technology is changing, management methods are changing, what is the need for us to add a hat to their heads, to set a class for themselves it. SAP will not say that they are an ERP provider, and say that they are enterprise application software providers.