Visit scripting is a best practice in field team management that requires a field sales rep or field service technician to follow preconfigured visit scenarios whose further steps automatically adjust on the fly as the user follows the scenario — to support complex use cases.
A visit script is typically implemented as a form on a mobile device and may include a checklist of job items to be completed on-site, data to be collected (such as sales or performance metrics), people to be interviewed, photos to be taken, and client or partner feedback to be collected.
In more complex scenarios, a form may show or hide data fields based on previously entered data, execute outbound API calls to prefill form fields from an external IT system, and other automated actions required by the scenario.
While visit scenarios can be expressed in the form of a simple to-do list, digital or printed, such to-do lists may significantly limit your team’s productivity by not addressing the challenges listed below that can be efficiently addressed by a comprehensive digital visit scripting tool.
1 Post-visit data entry takes up additional time
2 Lack of real-time data validation leads to incorrect data and missed data
3 Lack of auto-adjusting forms leads to missed or incorrect steps and missed data
4 Post-visit data entry prevents collecting actionable visit performance analysis
5 Lack of geofencing of visits reduces self-discipline and productivity
6 Lack of real-time field data negatively impacts performance
Mapsly offers a set of tightly integrated tools that, together, allow you to standardize (script) the flow of your visits, as well as a team of experienced solution engineers, at no extra cost, who will help you structure your requirements for visit scripts and configure Mapsly to implement them. Where necessary, they write programming code on Maplsy’s Automation Platform, also at no extra cost, to address the parts of the scripts that cannot be addressed by the point-and-click capabilities of the Automation Platform.
Our solution engineers will place custom buttons, like Check In and Check Out, in various parts of the Mapsly mobile app’s user interface, where your users expect to find them.
When your outside field rep or service technician arrives at a location and clicks the Check In button (or any other custom button), Mapsly will compare the rep’s location with the visit location. If the rep is too far away, Mapsly may mark the visit as geographically unverified or prevent the rep from starting the visit altogether, depending on the requirements of your particular business.
Optionally, your field agent may be checked into a location automatically as s/he approaches it.
The Check In button will bring up custom forms listing all the steps the rep needs to do to complete the visit, which may include work items to be done, data points to be collected, interviews to be done, photos to be taken, e-signature to be received, etc, with all the necessary prompts and field descriptions to guide users through the visit.
Upon the form’s submission, the collected data, including photos and e-signature, will be immediately synced to your CRM or spreadsheet and will be reflected on your performance dashboards in Mapsly.
1 All collected filled-in data is immediately synced to the CRM, eliminating duplicate data entry
2 All data is validated in real time, eliminating errors and missed data points
Since the form validates all the data being entered, this eliminates the risk of data errors and ensures the all the required information is collected. For example, if you require customer feedback to be collected during every visit, the visit would not be completed before the Customer feedback field is filled in.
You may configure custom validation rules for any of the fields, or even have Mapsly call an external IT system during the visit to validate being entered.
3 Form’s content will automatically adapt to stay relevant throughout the visit
As the user fills the form, further form fields will be shown or hidden depending on the script, prompting user to fill in data that became relevant. For example, if your field rep must do several interviews at a store that s/he visits, s/he would press the button to add an Interview block with all the required fields.
The form may differ depending on their location type and properties, on the user, and the form’s content will automatically adjust based on custom conditions. All your CRM’s standard and custom fields and properties are automatically available to be included into the form steps.
4 Mapsly automatically collects performance data and updates analytical dashboards
When your field team uses Check In and Check Out buttons to start and finish visits, Mapsly logs visit start time and end time and feeds it to the field performance dashboards pre-configured for all Mapsly clients in Mapsly Analytics, which includes various detailed metrics such as completion vs. missed visits, on time arrival, visit overtime, and many more.
All metrics are available per user and aggregated for the selected users, over a time period. You also have the option to see how these metrics changed over time, per user, or aggregated for a team.
5 Geofencing ensures transparency and self-discipline, which boosts performance
When Check In and Check Out buttons are configured to prevent starting or finishing a visit when a field rep is far away from the location, this provides transparency of field operations and automatically boosts team productivity through self-discipline, without any additional efforts or training.
6 Instant data availability enables real-time operational decisions
Since all collected data is instantly saved to your CRM or spreadsheet and immediately reflected in Mapsly Analytics’ dashboards, you can make decisions based on the results of particular visits, enabling reaction time and adaptability that were not possible before.
If necessary, Mapsly can also be configured to feed visit data to the CRM in real time, even before the Check In form is submitted.
440 N Barranca Ave #4985, Covina, CA 91723
