Introduction

Call Planning in Perenso Field Sales is a new feature to assist sales reps to be able to more effectively plan their calls - taking into consideration predefined call frequency requirements while still maintaining autonomy for the sales rep to be able to plan their calls for the week as they see fit. 


Call Planning utilizes a modified version of Trip Zones to provide the sales reps with an easy way to see the most important accounts to call on each week. These Trip Zones are system created and will not affect any separate Trip Zones already in use by the rep. The zones will be automatically assigned to a week. These zones will contain all accounts that are best to to call on in the week the zone is assigned to using the logic described below. The sales rep can use the diary to plan their week from this list, or utilize the Route Planning view to view their customers on a map and plan their week accordingly.


Automatic Trip Zone Logic

The first account assigned to the trip zone is based on the following priority if there are no existing calls in the Users' diary:

  1. Coverage Status (Over due > Due > Planned > Covered > No Coverage)

  2. Earliest end date of the trip zone the account was last put in 

  3. The account with the lowest distance to its neighboring accounts


This means:

1. As a first priority, the most overdue account (based on "Coverage" defined in Administrator"). 

2. Next, the account that was assigned to a Trip Zone with the oldest date

3. Following that, any account closest in physical distance


If there is an existing call in the users diary, the account assigned to the trip zone will be closest to the call that exists as Perenso gives priority to these firm appointments.


An "Unassigned" Trip Zone is also created to cater for accounts who have never been visited by a rep OR who are not physically seen using the following logic:

  • Any account that has a coverage target if: 

    • They have never been called on OR

    • The only calls that exist for the account for this user are calls that are not "On Location" (i.e. where the Call Type \ “On Location” flag is FALSE in Administrator). This indicates if the rep is only doing Non On Location calls that the account is not psychically visited.

    • This trip zone is NOT assigned to a week. Accounts with no coverage target are excluded from this zone

Automatic Trip Zones are calculated nightly therefore accounts that are in an Automatic Zone at the beginning of a week my not necessarily be in the same zone towards the end of the week as accounts are re-prioritized nightly based on the above criteria.


Coverage Status Logic


Coverage logic has be rewritten and uses the following logic


 

Expected Results for Next Period

Previous Period

Before creating the call

After creating the call

After completing the call

OVERDUE

OVERDUE

PLANNED

COVERED

DUE

OVERDUE

PLANNED

COVERED

PLANNED

DUE

PLANNED

COVERED

COVERED

DUE

PLANNED

COVERED




Configuring Call Planning in Administrator


1. Ensure a Coverage Target exists. For information on setting up a Coverage Target see Setting Up Coverage



2. Go to the menu item Call Planning




3. Tick the box Enable Call Planning


4. Enter the number of Call Per Week. This will define the number of accounts Perenso will suggest to the user within a single system generated trip zone for a week.


5, Enter a Trip Zone Prefix. This is used to prefix all system generated trip zones so users can differentiate between system generated and user created trip zones. It it suggested this prefix is short in character length.


6. Select the Coverage Target to be used (see Step 1). This defines the Call Frequency rules and ultimately drives which account will be suggested to the user based on their coverage status.


7. Tick the User Types Call Planning applies to


8. Save all changes


Using Call Planning


Once Call Planning has been enabled by the Perenso Administrator, system generated Trip Zones are created and refreshed nightly. These system generated Trip Zones are prefixed with a prefix determined by the Administrator. Accounts within these Trip Zones are those that are determined to be most important to call on for the assigned week based on the factors mentioned above (Coverage Status, oldest date visited and/or location in proximity to other accounts that are flagged as a priority).


Creating A Call

A call on a customer using the system generated Trip Zones can be done in one of two ways:


Route Planning

  1. Login to Perenso
  2. Tap on "Diary"
  3. Tap the "Filter" icon on the left side of screen
  4. Enable the Trip Zone filter required
  5. Tap on "Not Planned" on the right hand side to view all customers in the Trip Zone. You may need to "pinch and zoom out" to see all customers on the map. Use the "Search This Area" button to refresh the accounts on the screen.
  6. Tap on the "Map Results" icon on the left hand side
  7. Enable multi select using the checkbox under the heading "Map Results" (to the right of the "Add To Route" button)
  8. Select the customers you wish to call on for the day
  9. Tap "Add To Route"

Remember to set a Start Location and End Location in the "Route" screen to allow Perenso to optimize your route order    


Diary

  1. Login to Perenso
  2. Tap on "Diary"
  3. Tap "Add New Entry"
  4. Tap "Select Accounts"
  5. Tap on the Trip Zone assigned to the week (under the "Trip Zone" tab)
  6. Select the accounts you wish to call on for the day