Using Reorder Timing to Plan a Rep's Driving Route
Plan a rep's driving route around reorder timing so the windshield time lands on accounts that are actually due. In wholesale distribution, an outside rep wastes hours visiting accounts that just bought while accounts about to reorder go unseen. Sequencing the route by who is due, then by geography, fills each day with calls that have a reason behind them.
The scenario
An outside rep at Keystone Facility Solutions plans Tuesday around a part of town: six accounts clustered together, easy loop. The trouble is that four of them ordered last week and have nothing to talk about, while two accounts across town are right at their reorder window and get skipped because they did not fit the loop. The route was efficient on miles and inefficient on revenue.
The rep is busy all day and comes back with two small orders. The accounts that would have bought were the ones the route never reached.
Why geography alone is the wrong organizing principle
Route planning by map is intuitive and easy, which is why most reps default to it. The problem is that proximity has nothing to do with readiness. An account being close does not mean it is due, and an account being due does not mean it is close. Optimizing only for drive time guarantees a calendar packed with visits to accounts that have no reason to order yet.
The better organizing principle is reorder timing first, geography second. Start from the list of accounts that are due this week, then sequence those by location to minimize driving. That way the windshield time serves calls that have a real purpose, instead of the calls bending to fit the easiest loop.
The pattern that fills the day
Build the route in two passes. First, pull the accounts that are inside their reorder window. Second, order that subset geographically so the drive is sane. The result is a day where almost every stop is an account with a reason to buy, and the miles still make sense.
- Start the route from who is due, not from the easiest cluster on the map
- Sequence the due accounts by location to keep drive time reasonable
- Drop just-ordered accounts from this week's route and revisit when they cycle back
How Allodial Predict helps
Allodial Predict gives the rep a ranked daily list of accounts due to reorder, each with the timing and a plain-English reason. The rep can build the week's route from that list, putting the highest-priority due accounts on the calendar and sequencing them by geography. Windshield time stops being spent on accounts that just bought, and every drive ends with a stop that had a reason behind it.
See which accounts are due before the phone rings.
Allodial Predict reads your order history and surfaces the accounts that need a call today.