In the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) business, meetings don't decide whether or not sales will be good; the market does.

How quickly and consistently your sales reps visit stores, how quickly your products get to stores, and how quickly orders are taken and filled all play a role. Every missed visit, late order, or out-of-stock item means lost sales. Even so, a lot of FMCG companies still use old-fashioned generic sales software, usually CRM systems, to run their sales. CRM tools are great for managing customer relationships, but they aren't made to handle the speed and complexity of FMCG distribution.

This is when knowing the difference between CRM and FMCG sales software becomes very important.

CRM helps you manage relationships, but FMCG sales software lets you automate field sales, manage orders in real time, see your distributors, and carry out retail tasks. These are the things that really drive growth in this industry.