⎯ THE CHALLENGE
LET SMALL BUSINESSES
SAY “YES” WITHOUT AN APPOINTMENT
A bank wanted to increase the use of its payment card at small businesses. The strategy was clear: greater visibility at the point of sale and more active, properly configured terminals in stores. The problem was execution.
Visiting more than 62,000 small businesses—neighborhood stores, local businesses, independent retailers— without an appointment, with the goal of placing promotional materials and conducting a device test, is one of the most demanding field challenges there is. There is no designated contact person ready to receive you. There’s no prior agreement. The field team arrives, explains the project, overcomes objections, and either secures—or fails to secure—authorization to proceed.
Added to this inherent difficulty with the channel was an operational challenge: optimizing routes to maximize the number of productive visits per day, without wasting time on unnecessary trips or at establishments that no longer existed or had changed their line of business.
⎯ OBJECTIVES
WHAT THE CUSTOMER NEEDED
Place visibility in 44% of the establishments visited
Implement the card’s visibility material — stickers, displays, signage — in businesses that agreed to receive it during the visit.
Conduct terminal testing at 44% of the locations
Verify that the payment terminal is functioning properly and resolve any technical issues detected during the visit immediately.
Maximize the efficiency of visit routes
Minimize the time between visits, avoid closed or nonexistent establishments, and ensure the highest possible number of productive contacts per day.
“Visiting 62,000 businesses without an appointment isn’t just fieldwork—it’s a precision operation. The difference between doing it right and doing it wrong lies in the data you have before you head out into the field.”
SIG Spain Management Team
⎯ THE SOLUTION
CLEAN DATA, OPTIMAL ROUTES,
A WELL-PREPARED TEAM
The key to this project wasn’t the field team—although they were crucial. It was what was done before the team hit the streets. Cleaning up the database and optimizing routes were the two factors that turned a massive-scale project into an efficient operation.
CLEANING AND VALIDATION OF THE BUSINESS DATABASE
Before planning any routes, we cleaned up the client’s database to remove businesses that were closed, duplicates, or had changed their line of business. A clean database is the difference between a team that visits active businesses and a team that wastes time looking for businesses that no longer exist.
ROUTE OPTIMIZATION WITH SPECIALIZED TOOL
We designed the visit routes using a geographic optimization tool that grouped establishments by proximity and minimized travel between visits. More productive visits per day, less time spent in transit.
EXCLUSIVE TEAM TRAINED TO OVERCOME OBJECTIONS
We assigned a field team dedicated exclusively to this project, specifically trained to approach small businesses without an appointment. The training covered how to present the project, how to handle the most common objections raised by small business owners, and how to conduct the terminal test in a quick and non-intrusive manner.
VISITS WITH INTEGRATED VISIBILITY MATERIALS AND TERMINAL TESTING
Each visit combined two tasks into a single stop: installing promotional materials and testing the terminal. This maximized the value of each visit and eliminated the need to return to the same location to complete the second task.
⎯ RESULTS
THE NUMBERS
THAT COUNT
+62K
PLACES VISITED
Within one year of implementation
53%
WITH IMPLANTED MATERIAL
Exceeding the 44% target
57%
WITH TERMINAL TEST
Exceeding the 44% target
The initial goal was to reach 44% on both metrics. The final result exceeded that threshold for both indicators— 53% for material deployed and 57% for terminal tests completed. This difference is no coincidence: it is the direct result of a clean database, well-designed routes, and a team trained to turn a walk-in visit into a capitalized opportunity.
⎯ KEY LESSONS LEARNED
Key takeaways
for the next project
In projects involving large-scale visits to small businesses, an unfiltered database is the biggest obstacle to efficiency. Every visit to a closed, nonexistent, or out-of-scope establishment is lost time that cannot be recovered. Pre-cleaning is not an optional step—it is the foundation upon which the entire project is built.
Grouping visits by geographic proximity isn’t just a matter of logistical efficiency—it’s a key driver of results. More productive visits per day mean more locations contacted, more materials deployed, and more tests conducted by the end of the project.
A business owner who isn’t expecting your visit has reasons to turn you away—lack of time, mistrust, or inertia. A well-trained team knows how to anticipate those objections, counter them with clear arguments, and turn a “not right now” into a successful implementation. That skill can’t be improvised—it takes preparation before heading out into the field.
Do you have a similar project in BANKING ?
Tell us about the challenge, and we’ll tell you how we’ll solve it. We’ll get back to you in less than 24 hours.