Beats

A beat represents a group of customers or outlets that are visited together as part of a sales route. Beats help organize customer visits into manageable clusters, making it easier for salespersons to plan their daily activities and ensure regular market coverage.

The Beats module in Zoho ERP helps you manage the beats associated with a journey plan. Distribution Managers can start and end beats, check in and check out customers during visits, and create sales orders for customers, making it easier to track and execute field activities.

View Beats Associated With Journey Plans

Once you create a journey plan, beats are automatically generated based on the plan’s duration. To view the beats associated with a journey plan:

Go to Distribution on the left sidebar.
Click Journey Plans in the Modules bar at the top.
Click the journey plan whose beats you want to view. The beats will be listed in the Associated Beats section of the Plan Details tab.

Start Beats

Zoho ERP provides a portal where a salesperson can start a beat when planning to visit customers in a journey plan. Similarly, the distribution manager can also perform this action from the app on behalf of the salesperson. Here’s how:

Go to Distribution on the left sidebar.
Click Journey Plans in the Modules bar at the top.
Click the journey plan containing the beat.
Click the required beat in the Associated Beats section.
Click Start Beat at the top. The beat’s status will be updated to In Progress, and the salesperson can now visit the customers in the journey plan.

Check In Customers

ERP provides a portal where a salesperson can perform the check-in action for customers they are currently visiting. Similarly, the distribution manager can also perform this action from the app on behalf of the salesperson. Here’s how:

Go to Distribution on the left sidebar.
Click Journey Plans in the Modules bar at the top.
Click the journey plan containing the beat.
Click the required beat in the Associated Beats section of the Plan Details tab.
Click the customer to check in the Associated Customers section of the Visit Summary section.
Click Check In.

Create Sales Orders

While visiting a customer, if they require goods, the salesperson can create a sales order for them. Similarly, the distribution manager can also create the order from the app on behalf of the salesperson.

Note: You can create sales orders for customers only when the customer’s visit status is On Site.

Here’s how:

Go to Distribution on the left sidebar.
Click Journey Plans in the Modules bar at the top.
Click the journey plan containing the beat.
Click the required beat in the Associated Beats section of the Plan Details tab.
Click the checked in customer the Associated Customers section of the Visit Summary section.
Click Create Sales Order at the top.
Enter the necessary details and click Save.

Check Out Customers

Zoho ERP provides a portal where a salesperson can check out after completing a customer visit in their journey plan. Similarly, the distribution manager can also perform this action from the app on behalf of the salesperson once the visit is completed. Here’s how:

Go to Distribution on the left sidebar.
Click Journey Plans in the Modules bar at the top.
Click the journey plan containing the beat.
Click the required beat in the Associated Beats section of the Plan Details tab.
Click the checked in customer in the Associated Customers section of the Visit Summary section.
Click Check Out. The visit’s status will be updated to Visited, and the visit duration will be displayed next to the customer.

Skip Customers From Beats

If a customer is not available during a particular beat, distribution managers can skip the customer so that the salesperson knows they do not need to visit them during that beat. Here’s how:

Go to Distribution on the left sidebar.
Click Journey Plans in the Modules bar at the top.
Click the journey plan containing the beat.
Click the required beat in the Associated Beats section of the Plan Details tab.
Click the customer to skip in the Associated Customers section of the Visit Summary section.
Click Skip Visit at the top.

Add Customers to Beats

A customer might not be available during a particular beat but could be available on a later day. Distribution managers can temporarily add the customer to a specific beat so that the salesperson knows they need to visit them during that beat.

Note: You can add customers to a beat only before starting the beat.

To add customers to a beat temporarily:

Go to Distribution on the left sidebar.
Click Journey Plans in the Modules bar at the top.
Click the journey plan containing the beat.
Click the required beat in the Associated Beats section of the Plan Details tab.
Click Update Customers at the top.
Click + Add Customer and select a customer associated with the sales region to add them to the beat temporarily. The Ad-hoc label will be added next to the customer.
Click Skip next to a customer to exclude them from the beat. Provide a Reason and click Save*. The Skipped label will be added next to the customer.
Click Save.

Reassign Salespersons

If a salesperson is not available for the day or is unable to manage a beat, distribution managers can reassign the beat to another salesperson.

Note: You can reassign the salesperson who manages the beat only before starting the beat.

To reassign the salesperson of a beat:

Go to Distribution on the left sidebar.
Click Journey Plans in the Modules bar at the top.
Click the journey plan containing the beat.
Click the required beat in the Associated Beats section of the Plan Details tab.
Click Reassign Salesperson at the top.
Select the salesperson who’ll manage the beat from the Select Salesperson dropdown and click Save.

End Beats

Once a salesperson has visited all the customers in a beat, Zoho ERP provides a portal where the salesperson can end the beat in a journey plan. Similarly, the distribution manager can also perform this action from the app on behalf of the salesperson.

Note: You can end a beat even if you’ve not visited all the customers in the beat. In this case, the visit status of the unvisited customers will be updated to Skipped.

To end a beat:

Go to Distribution on the left sidebar.
Click Journey Plans in the Modules bar at the top.
Click the journey plan containing the beat.
Click the required beat in the Associated Beats section.
Click End Beat at the top. The beat will end, and its status will be updated to Completed.