Field Ops: Building your FOS Org
Online eventually becomes Omni-Channel or Phygital - and in 3 years, you'll find you're running an Offline business with a website.
Jokes aside, a sizeable part of commerce (especially in Financial Services) happens offline (i.e. Face to Face) in India. So, like I did, you too would need to build a FOS (Feet On Street) / Field Ops team.
As usual - I’ve got a mental map for thinking about FOS - you can click on it to expand or download for use later
10 practical tips on how to get started
First, identify WHAT you want your FOS to do?
Sales? Lead generation (door to door)? App install? Cheque pick-up? Goods delivery?
FOS salaries range from ₹10K to ₹25K per month; educational profiles vary from 10th fail to BCom pass
WHAT you want your FOS to do helps you decide the PERSONA of FOS you need to hire (invaluable input for HR)
Example: Lead Gen FOS in Mumbai costs ₹10K versus Sales FOS who costs ₹20K
Next, identify WHERE you want your FOS to operate?
Which state? Which city? Which localities? Which Pin Codes?
Please follow the above order of questions - try to get as granular as possible - this helps a FOS Leader build a “beat” i.e. division of area amongst FOS Reps
What often works: Your customer data from online marketing / SEO helps you identify hot cities / Pin Codes for traffic - start there!
The best thing you can tell a new FOS is that you already have customers in the city they are launching
Finally, identify WHO you are going to cater to via FOS?
FOS Reps mostly do EXACTLY what they are told
Example: Say “Garment Shop” instead of “Shop” - it helps them in finding prospects
Remember: Explain both {why / why not} - in SMB insurance, we can’t insure non-permanent constructions so we tell our Reps to NOT solicit such customers.
Recruit top down
Once you are able to answer (1) → (3), you are now in a position to build your FOS team
Unlike other verticals - this is where top down hiring always works because an FOS team needs a sizeable amount of dedicated & cross-functional “Support” - figuring this out is best delegated to a career professional
Dedicated Support - Recruiter, Trainer and Manager
Cross Functional Support - Marketing & Analytics
Running FOS teams is draining & (re)hiring needs a lot of bandwidth - so please get a senior hire to help you on Day 0. We had a VP level hire run this for us.
Train religiously and re-train methodologically
Your primary value add to a FOS team would be to help the leader build the L&D (Learning & Development) curriculum
This is a product you’ve built - you’ve spoken to 100+ customers - now, you need to share those insights with the new FOS hires
We’ll do an in-depth L&D post in January ‘23 - but for now:
Build L&D modules for - product benefits, USP viz competition, objection handling (FAQs) etc
Build assessment quizzes on Google Forms / Slido - run a quiz each week - give prizes!
Spend 2 days per week with your FOS team - focused on L&D - the results will follow
Expect “attrition” as if you’re fighting trench warfare
Seeing ~15% to 20% monthly attrition (i.e. FOS disappears on salary day of Month {N} after working in Month {N-1}) is industry standard
Don’t be shocked - its part of the game - people move for < ₹2K as well (this is how your HR hired them in the first place you baboon)
Your HR :: Rep ratio would be ~ 1:: 50 precisely to combat this problem
Incentive design
Money matters - being able to earn a further 30% is a HUGE motivator
Speak with your VP about incentives - you don’t want perverse schemes:
FOS are masters at exploiting naively designed schemes (e.g. “refer a friend”)
FOS should be incentivized on some quality parameters too (e.g. we pay {80% - 100%} of eligible incentives based on customer NPS at the Rep level)
PLEASE make sure your incentive schemes are explained on the 1st of the month
Maybe, give them a basic Excel calculator to figure out their potential incentives?
Whenever discussing money - don’t hesitate to speak about your mission & being honest with customers
You’ll be surprised how many FOS acknowledge the importance of their job as mini-brand ambassadors.
Incentive + Mission is what keeps them going - keep reminding them about this
Monitoring & Metrics
Monitoring (early warning signal for attrition)
Daily check-in with your FOS & their frontline manager at a fixed spot
Weekly attendance in office for an L&D quiz & team discussion
Metrics - I’ve covered this in IQOO Framework - this depends on your data stack maturity - but you want to know:
# of visits done, conversion % of visit → “desired outcome”
NPS of customers sourced by FOS
FOS’ L&D scores
Enable FOS via Marketing Support - covered briefly in Tackling Trust Issues
Bare minimum: Pamphlets to distribute & booklet to carry - include local customer success stories, include Proof By Authority (any certifications / big endorsements?)
Ideal: Company T-Shirt, ID card with company lanyard
Advanced: The ID card can have a QR code which links to a dedicated section of your website recognizing the FOS - builds huge trust for financial services
Advanced II: Any spare inbound leads from digital marketing which you can give the FOS?
Or, you can ask existing customers if an FOS can pay a courtesy visit (AKA “get references”)
Rewards & Recognition
As Founder / CEO - please {once per month} sketch the growth plan out - explain to FOS in a training room how they can get promoted as the company grows
This is a HUGE morale booster & makes them stick around
PLEASE pay your incentives on time - this is the #1 reason FOS leave
Trophies, medals, etc work - a simple hand written note works the best
It means a lot for an FOS to get a note from their “super boss” - it is often shared with parents & family which drives incredible retention
FAQs section
{This is a placeholder which I will update based on questions}
Closing thoughts
Building an FOS team requires a different kind of leader & mindset. If you’re truly building for India - you will need an FOS team at some point.
Hopefully, the 10 “How to start” tips & the sketch above will give some ideas on HOW to build your FOS team.
While writing this - I recognize that a few topics requires much more depth:
Incentive design (for any Sales team)
Tactical guide to get marketing to enable FOS
How to build L&D material for Sales teams?
As always, I look forward to your thoughts, comments & feedback. Please do share this on Social Media if you found it useful.
Found this very insightful. Also, an addition to the incentives piece - It is important to punish breach in Input metrics like adherence to no. of meetings etc. Also, in terms of incentives, I have found it useful to incentivize Outputs (and show link between quality metrics and output during weekly meetups) and a big prize for Outcomes quarterly/yearly. What do you think?