Visit forms and shelf audits
Your own forms for salesmen to fill at a visit: surveys, feedback, and shelf audits whose yes or no questions earn points. Each audit scores the outlet.
PLANSFrom Growth
The problem it solves
- You pay for display and posters at shops and have no proof they are up.
- Market feedback comes back as a WhatsApp voice note that nobody can add up.
- Every area manager runs his own survey on paper, in his own format.
- You cannot compare how well your items are shown in one town against another.
How it works
- Under Configuration > Places and Field Work > Visit Forms, make a form. Name it, choose Survey, Shelf Audit or Feedback, and whether it is for dealers, retailers or both.
- Add the questions in order: yes / no, number, text, a choice from a list, or a photo. Mark each required or not, and give yes / no questions points.
- Write what the salesman should do in the Instructions tab.
- At a shop the salesman opens Forms on the party, picks the form and answers it. Required questions, numbers and choices are checked before it is saved.
- A shelf audit's score is the points of its Yes answers out of all its points, as a percent.
- Read the answers under Field Sales > Visit Form Answers, or the shelf scores by outlet and month in the pivot.
Everything it does
Forms
- Kind: Survey, Shelf Audit, Feedback
- For: Dealers, Retailers, or Dealers and Retailers (Retailers to start with)
- Order of forms, instructions for the salesman, entity (empty: every entity), archive
- Made and changed by Distribution Managers
Questions
- Kinds: Yes / No, Number, Text, Choice (choices separated by commas), Photo
- Required: on to start with
- Points on a Yes / No question count towards the score
- An answer that is not one of the choices, or a number that is not a number, is refused
Answers and scores
- Each filled form keeps the form, the party, the visit, the salesman, the date and every answer with its photo
- Score (%) shown for shelf audits
- Visit Form Answers: list, pivot (Shelf Scores by outlet and month) and form; filter Shelf Audits; group by form, party, salesman
- A salesman sees his own answers; managers see all
Reading the shelf with AI (Scale)
- After a shelf audit with photos, the app can ask the AI service to read them
- It returns your share of the shelf, your items not seen and competitor items with prices seen
- What it read is kept on the audit: share of shelf, items not seen, competitor items, a note and when
Who uses it
Distribution ManagerDesigns the forms and questions, and reads the scores across outlets.
SalesmanFills the forms at the shop, with photos.
Area ManagerReads the answers and shelf scores of the area.
Where you use it
- Web: Distribution > Field Sales > Visit Form Answers
- Configuration: Distribution > Configuration > Places and Field Work > Visit Forms
- The SmartMy Distribution app: Forms on a party (built and in testing, not in the app stores yet)
- Not on the dealer portal: dealers do not fill or see visit forms
What you control
Settings
- Forms, their kind, who they are for and their questions
- Required per question (on to start with) and points per yes / no question
- A form for every entity or one
Questions
Can each area have a different form?
A form is for dealers, retailers or both, and for one entity or all. Forms are not limited to an area; the salesman picks the one to fill.How is the shelf score worked out?
Each yes / no question carries points. The score is the points of the Yes answers out of all the points of the form, as a percent.Can the salesman add photos?
Yes. Add a Photo question, for example of the display or the poster. The photo is kept with the answer.Can we make a form compulsory at every visit?
Not yet. Forms are filled when the salesman opens them; a visit can be checked in without one.Does it work without signal?
On Scale, the offline app keeps a filled form on the phone and sends it when the signal is back.Related features
RETAILERS AND FIELD SALESCompetitor prices from the marketKeep a list of competitor brands and their items, each matched to one of yours. Salesmen record the selling price and offer they see at a shop, with a photo. Each item shows its last price, the 90-day average and how far it is from yours.LARGE NETWORKSAI suggested orders, shelf photos and stock-out forecastAt the shop, Suggest fills the order with what the shop is due for and what shops like it buy, each with a reason. The AI reads shelf audit photos for your share of the shelf, missing items and competitor prices. Each dealer item gets a run-out date, with the season counted.RETAILERS AND FIELD SALESBeats, visits and the salesman's day with km claimEach salesman gets his beats and their days. He starts the day in the app with a photo, checks in at shops against their pin, and ends the day. With SmartMy HRMS the kilometres can be claimed.LARGE NETWORKSThe salesman app, also offlineThe SmartMy Distribution app for Android and iPhone runs the salesman's day: the beat, visits, orders, collections, forms and new retailers. On Scale it keeps working without signal and sends what was done, in order, when the phone is back online.RETAILERS AND FIELD SALESOutlet classes and outlet reachEvery month your retailers are ranked by 90 days of sales into classes A, B and C, each with its own visits a month. Outlet Reach shows which retailers are active, lapsed, never bought or new.
See your market on it.
Tell us how many dealers and salesmen you have, and how orders and claims reach you today. We will set up your dealers, price lists and beats with you.