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What a field sales supervisor should check every day

For field sales supervisors and sales managers with a team of reps on the road. By the end you will have a routine for the morning, the day and the evening, and know which figures deserve your time and which only look busy.

Van sales and routes4 min read

The short answer

A field sales supervisor should start each day by checking who has not started, cash still held from yesterday and closes waiting for approval. During the day, compare planned stops with stops done, read every skip reason, and watch productive visits and collections for each rep. In the evening, approve clean closes and question every difference; once a week, review customers not visited for weeks and each rep’s pace against target.

Key takeaways

  • Call a rep who has not started rather than waiting; the first stops are where competitors arrive first.
  • The same shop skipped three weeks running is a customer being lost, not a detail.
  • Compare each rep’s productive-visit share with their own recent days before comparing reps with each other.
  • A rep who sells well but collects little is building next month’s overdue list.
  • Judge targets by pace: half the target at mid-month is on track, the same figure with a week left is not.

Start with who is out and what is still open

The first check of the day takes a few minutes and catches most problems early. Is every rep who should be on the road on the road? Is anyone still holding cash from yesterday, or waiting on a close nobody approved? Anything left from yesterday is today’s first job, before it becomes this week’s.

Call a rep who has not started rather than waiting to see. A late start costs the first stops on the route, and those are the customers a competitor reaches first.

  • Reps who have not started their day
  • Cash still held from an earlier day
  • Closes from yesterday waiting for approval
  • Van counts that did not match
  • Orders waiting for a credit decision

TipDo these checks at the same time every morning, so reps know a late start will be noticed.

Follow the plan, not just the sales

During the day, look at visits before sales. Compare stops planned with stops done, and read every skipped visit’s reason. One rep skipping one shop is a detail; the same shop skipped three weeks running is a customer being lost.

Unplanned visits deserve a look too. A few are healthy: a rep who spotted a new shop or answered a call. Many, day after day, mean the plan does not match where the rep actually goes, and the plan should change.

TipAgree a short list of skip reasons with the team, so “shop closed” means the same thing from every rep.

Look at productive visits

A visit that ends with no order, no sale and no collection is a cost with no return. Count productive visits as a share of visits made, for each rep. A falling share usually means one of three things: the rep is short of stock, the range does not fit the area, or the rep is calling without selling.

Compare each rep with their own recent days before comparing reps with each other. Areas differ, and a rep in a quiet district can be doing well with a lower figure than a rep in the market.

TipWhen a rep’s share drops, ride with them for half a day before drawing a conclusion.

Check the money as it comes in

Sales are half the day; collections are the other half. Look at what each rep collected and how, by cash, card or transfer, and set it against what their customers owe. A rep who sells well but collects little is building next month’s overdue list.

Watch for cash that stays with a rep. Takings should come back every evening, and cash still held from an earlier day is worth a phone call, not an email.

  • Collections by method for each rep
  • Customers visited who owe and paid nothing
  • Orders held over a credit limit
  • Discounts close to each rep’s maximum

TipAsk about a missing collection the same day, while the rep still remembers the visit.

Close the day with the team

In the evening every rep’s close should reach you: stock counted, cash counted, differences explained. Approve the clean ones quickly and question the rest while the rep can still be reached. A close left until tomorrow is harder to explain and easier to dispute.

Note differences by rep and by reason, not only by amount. A small shortage every day from the same rep matters more than one large one with a clear cause.

  1. Check every rep has finished the last visit
  2. Open each close waiting for approval
  3. Compare the van count with the stock expected
  4. Ask about any cash difference before approving
  5. Approve, and note the reason for any difference

TipApprove closes in the same order every evening, so none is missed when the list is long.

Keep an eye on the month

Once a week, step back from the day. Which customers on the plan have had no completed visit in two weeks, or four? They are drifting away, and the list should be short. Where is each rep against their monthly target, at the pace the month needs?

Pace matters more than the total. A rep at half the target halfway through the month is on track; the same figure with a week to go is not.

TipShare the pace figure with each rep every week, not only at month end, when nothing can change it.

Checklist: Every working day

  • See who has not started by mid-morning
  • Clear any cash still held from yesterday
  • Read every skipped visit’s reason
  • Check productive visits for each rep
  • Compare collections with what customers owe
  • Approve clean closes the same evening
  • Question every close with a difference
  • Review customers not visited in two weeks
  • Check each rep’s pace against target

In Axon Suite

How Axon Suite handles it

In Axon Suite the field dashboard shows the day’s visits, sales and collections for every rep, with a list of what needs you: reps who have not started, cash still held from an earlier day, closes to approve and van counts that do not match. It lists planned customers with no completed visit in two or four weeks, and each rep’s sales against their monthly target when one is set. A supervisor sees the same figures in the rep app, for the reps they can see.

Feature

The supervisor’s field dashboard

The field dashboard shows the day’s visits, sales and collections for every rep, a list of what needs you, the customers nobody has visited for two or four weeks, and a map of where each rep last reported.

Open: The supervisor’s field dashboard
Feature

Weekly journey plans on a map

Put each rep’s customers on weekdays from a map, in the order they are visited. At midnight in your time zone the plan becomes that day’s route in the rep app. A skipped stop needs a reason, and unplanned visits are counted apart from planned ones.

Open: Weekly journey plans on a map
Feature

End-of-day cash and stock close

At the end of the day the rep counts the van’s stock and then the cash in hand. By default the rep counts blind, without seeing what the system expects. The office approves the close, and any difference posts to your over and short account.

Open: End-of-day cash and stock close
Feature

Credit limits on every order

Every order is checked against the customer’s limit the moment it is saved, in the office and in the rep’s app. Over the limit, it is held for someone with approval rights or refused, as your settings say.

Open: Credit limits on every order

Before you go

Questions owners ask

How long should the daily checks take?

Minutes, not hours, if the figures come to you on one screen rather than through a phone call to each rep. Spend the time saved on the reps whose figures moved.

Should a supervisor track where reps are all day?

Position helps explain a missed visit or a late start, not watch every move. In Axon Suite the rep app reports its position every two minutes while the rep’s workday is open, and not otherwise.

What is a good productive-visit figure?

There is no single number; it depends on the area and the customers. Track each rep against their own recent weeks, and act on a fall rather than on a level.

Glossary

Terms in this guide

Open the glossary

Keep reading

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  3. How to stop reps selling past customers’ credit limitsCredit and collections · 4 min read

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