How Cargill grew annual revenue by 5% in a mature market
When Microsoft Streets and Trips was discontinued, Cargill needed more than a replacement. They needed a better way to run their field team.
9%increase in premium feed sales
12 → 20weekly customer meetings
About Cargill
Cargill Incorporated is one of the largest privately owned corporations in the world, founded in 1865 with a single grain flat house and now operating in 70 countries with 160,000 employees and annual revenues exceeding $110 billion. Their Animal Nutrition business distributes bagged animal feed to agricultural retailers across the United States through a nationwide field sales team.
Matthew Brooks is the Business Development Manager of Cargill's Animal Nutrition division. Together with two counterparts, he oversees 29 retail account reps servicing roughly 3,000 agricultural retailers. Each rep manages an average of 100 accounts across territories that range from densely concentrated eastern markets to the vast open landscapes of the western states.
Cargill works in a mature industry. Demand is steady, but growth is tough. Every efficiency gain is important. Every account visit matters. And every rep who returns home safely after a long day is a win that counts more than any number.
The challenge
For years, Cargill's field team relied on Microsoft Streets and Trips to plan their routes. It worked but it was painfully inefficient. Planning initial visits to all 110 store locations in a territory took two full days. Completing a full territory cycle took seven weeks. Daily route changes were cumbersome, and there was no accountability mechanism to track what was actually happening in the field.
Reps were driving as much as 1,000 miles per week, spending long hours behind the wheel that led to fatigue, rushing, and the safety risks that come with both. For Matthew, finding a solution that reduced drive time and took the stress out of route planning wasn't just an efficiency problem. It was a safety imperative.
How Badger Maps helped
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Route planning time cut from hours to minutes
The most immediate and dramatic change was in planning time. Daily route planning dropped from 30-40 minutes to five minutes or less. And the time required to complete a full territory cycle dropped from seven weeks to five.
The implementation itself was equally smooth. There were no growing pains, no technical headaches, and dedicated support from Badger's customer success team at every step.
“Badger saves us half a day of driving, which gives us an extra half day out on the road, seeing customers, and being able to sell.”
With routes optimized and planning time dramatically reduced, reps gained back half a day of selling time every week. Time that had been spent behind the wheel or at a desk planning routes went straight back into customer visits. Weekly meetings per rep jumped from 12-16 to 20. That translated directly into more relationships, more opportunities, and more revenue.
Matthew and his management team had always wanted a reliable way to track field activity. Badger's check-in tools delivered it. The "Days Since Last Checked In" filter became one of the most valuable tools in Matthew's management arsenal, giving him a live view of customers on the map colorized by their last visit date. Reps could be dispatched to accounts at regular intervals, and the data was clear: a higher frequency of visits correlated directly with higher sales.
“With Badger, you can really plan out your week based on where you can have the biggest impact.”
One of the standout results came from Cargill's Premium Feed business — a higher-margin product line that requires more face-to-face time to demonstrate its value. Using Badger's filtering and lead qualification tools, Matthew was able to ensure the right reps were in front of the right prospects at the right time. The result was a 9% annual increase in premium feed sales. It was a meaningful number for any product line, and a significant one for a premium offering in a mature market.
Perhaps the most meaningful benefit for Matthew was one that doesn't show up in a revenue report. Badger's optimized routes reduced drive time, eliminated the stress of on-the-fly route planning, and gave reps the breathing room to drive calmly and return home safely at the end of a long day.
“It prevents rushing. As people get near the end of the day, they're driving faster, cutting things short. Badger takes away a lot of the rushing and also the fatigue. It's helped to cut back on that significantly.”
Matthew Brooks, Business Development Manager, Cargill
The results
5%increase in annual revenue
9%increase in premium feed sales
7 weeks to 5 weekstime to complete a territory cycle
