Nikhil Chaudhary
VP of Marketing, BeatRoute
Nikhil leads marketing at BeatRoute and hosts The BeatRoute Podcast.
View profileField Force Management Software for Retail Brands in Kenya and Nigeria
Field force management software is the app a brand uses to plan, track and manage the visits and orders of its field sales team. In Nairobi or Lagos one beat may be walked by your own rep, a distributor's salesman and a van crew. BeatRoute puts them all on one beat plan.
Trusted by AAVA Brands, Dangote Cement and Shalina Healthcare
- users
- 100,000+
- countries
- 20+
- enterprise brands
- 200+
What a field force management system has to handle in Kenya and Nigeria
A tracking app shows where your field teams went. A sales team also needs to know what each visit sold. BeatRoute suits brands whose field force sells to retail outlets. A team of technicians or delivery drivers will be better served by field service or fleet software.
| Tracking-only app | BeatRoute | |
|---|---|---|
| Who is on the beat | Your own staff only | Your reps, distributor salesmen, van crews, merchandisers and promoters |
| The beat plan | Check-ins with no plan behind them | Kiosks, dukas, provision stores and market stalls ranked by the Scheduling AI Agent |
| Attendance | A punch-in from anywhere, home included | Counted only inside the rep's territory |
| At the counter | A photo, with the order sent on WhatsApp | Order, shelf photo, payment and stock count in one visit |
| Van sales | Not covered | Load, sales and cash-up for each van |
| When it slips | Found at the month-end review | An alert to the manager the same day |
Plan, visit, close the day: test it on your own beats in a demo
Bring a real beat, your price list and a normal Android phone. Count the taps.
Plan beats a rep can finish in Lagos or Nairobi traffic
Have the vendor rebuild one of your beats as you watch: a beat nobody can finish teaches reps to skip outlets. With the Scheduling AI Agent, productive visits rose from 45% to 78%.
What to check
- Beats by outlet type and visit frequency
- Routes that cut time in traffic
- Outlets ranked by what they are likely to sell
Run the visit at the kiosk or provision store
Test one visit at a real counter with the phone in flight mode. The order should carry this month's price and scheme.
What to check
- A check-in at the outlet, with the time spent there
- Suggested orders from each outlet's buying history
- Shelf photos graded by the VM Audit AI Agent, in field runs with customers
- Van stock sold and invoiced on the spot
Close the day: claims for your reps, cash-up for the vans
Ask to see a transport claim next to the visits it covers: a claim for an upcountry run on a day of three short stops in town stands out before it is paid. Then ask to see a distributor van's stock and cash reconciled at day end.
What to check
- Attendance counted only inside the territory
- Transport claims shown beside visits and distance
- Van stock and cash reconciled at day end
Who walks most of your beats? Judge the software on them first
Software that suits your own employees can still fail the people your distributors pay.
Your own reps and supervisors
They answer to you, so attendance, leave and claims matter most. Test the manager's approvals before the live map.
See sales force tracking
Distributor salesmen and van crews
The distributor pays them, but they sell your brand. Its salesmen work in the same app as your reps, so test the order price, the scheme and the van's cash-up.
See van sales
Merchandisers and promoters
Often hired through agencies, they stay in one supermarket or market stand. Test the store check-in, the shelf photo and what shoppers bought.
See the promoter appWhat AAVA Brands in Nigeria got on BeatRoute
★★★★★
“It has enabled our team to better plan, monitor, and analyze field activities with greater accuracy.”
★★★★★
“It is well tailored towards helping the sales team make visits effective and well accountable for actions.”
★★★★★
“BeatRoute has helped to bring discipline to the sales team, as well as increase efficiency and productivity.”
★★★★★
“The responses to our queries are swift and timely.”
Works offline and connects to your ERP and distributors' systems
Offline first, on Android and iOS
Visits, orders and photos save on the phone in open markets and upcountry, and sync later.
Your own hierarchy
Each manager sees their own team, from area to country.
Back-office sync
Prices, schemes and stock match your ERP and your distributors' systems, so a rep quotes this month's price.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it the same as field force automation or a field sales app?
Yes. Field force automation software and field force management software are two names for the same thing. Our field sales app is the field force automation app a rep uses at the counter.
How do managers track field employees and catch fake check-ins?
Managers see each rep's live location in work hours only. Each visit carries a GPS stamp, a photo and the time spent in the outlet, and a check-in from home does not count as attendance. Look for a pattern over a week, such as one rep who always checks in at the edge of the market, before you act on one odd day.
How is BeatRoute priced, and how should we run a pilot?
BeatRoute is subscription software, priced per user and module on annual contracts, with no free trial. After a demo, pilot it in one territory with your real outlets and prices. A Nairobi estate route and an upcountry route make a fair pair. Agree three numbers first, such as beat completion, productive calls and lines per call, and compare them with a territory that keeps the old way. Most teams go live in 21 days. See how pricing works.
Who wrote this page
Updated
Kanika Agrawal
Content Strategist, BeatRoute
Kanika writes guides from customer rollouts.
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