Field Report Templates

Checklist to write a field report

Checklists for writing a field report are used to find solutions to a specific problem. When documenting, observing, and analyzing certain processes, behaviors, and customer relationships, it proves useful to write a visit report.

The field report is often used in business processes in the area of sales and acquisition. In this process, the sales force is supposed to document the course of customer meetings and create a report.

In many industries, it is essential to write such a field report. Such a report provides detailed information that can be used to analyze and compare data within a theoretical framework. With the help of a field report checklist, data from customer contact can often be collected and forwarded more quickly.

This article discusses:

1. The field report in practice

2. 4 steps toward a successful field report

3. Writing a field report with a digital tool

The field report checklist in practice

Fieldreports are usually written by sales representatives to document their contact with a client or business partner. All important data and topics of conversation are recorded. The visit report has therefore not only the function of a general control, but also the task of preparing further customer contacts.

The visit report should therefore be prepared as soon as possible after the visit. The data is then transmitted to headquarters so that all employees of the company have access to the information. This also allows other employees to continue contact with the customer.

Field reports are an important tool for employees in the field or sales staff to document and maintain customer contacts. Where customer contacts take place is of secondary importance: This can be during conversations on-site at the customer, but also at a conference or a trade fair.

Even if several conversations are held on one day, it makes sense to use a template when writing the field report. Here, thoughts should be made in advance about what data should be recorded and what further steps are aimed at with the customer. In the field report template, these fields can be created so that no important aspects are forgotten when filling out.

4 steps on the way to a successful field report

As a general rule, a field report should always be brief and understandable so that documentation does not take more time than necessary. A template for the field report helps not to forget any point, in order to have afterwards a report, which meets the given requirements.

Depending on the industry or topic of conversation, the basic structure of a visit report varies greatly. For each template, it is important what questions or information needs to be saved. Depending on the company and the industry, this information will vary greatly.

The following steps provide guidance for writing your own field report template:

1. Record master data

First and foremost, data such as:

1. Date of visit
2. Responsible staff member
3. Names of persons who were visited
4. Duration of visit

2. Define goal

The reason and objective of the visit report should be clearly stated. This is the only way to effectively define the focus and gather relevant information. Organizational elements such as time constraints and observations are also documented during the field report writing process.

3. Topics of Discussion

In the 3rd step, the conversation of the visit is documented. Here, problems and needs of the client are addressed. Then the current status of the cooperation is defined and discussed. Recommendations are made to the customer with opportunities and risks. Further steps and tasks are discussed and, if necessary, new agreements are made.

4. Feedback from the customer

Finally, the feedback from the customer is noted in the field report. This information concerns the atmosphere of the conversation, praise and criticism from the customer, as well as suggestions for improvement.

Writing the field report with a digital tool

Creating digital checklists has the great advantage for the field report that the documents are available and accessible for all employees. This can save a lot of time.

With Lumiform’s mobile app, visit reports are easily created via tablet or smartphone – online or offline. Desktop software is used to create visit report templates and analyze data collected on site. This significantly reduces the risk of information and quality loss, documentation errors and reputational damage.

Other benefits of digital visit report checklist templates:

• Generate real-time data about site visits. This makes customer deployments more transparent, and data is used to continually optimize deployments.
• Gain an instant overview of everything that happens on site.
• Field reports are automatically generated – this saves the complete follow-up.
• The efficiency of internal communication is improved: Due to faster reporting of incidents, occurring problems are solved up to 4x faster.
• Easier analysis of all data saves time. Areas that need improvement are identified more quickly.