Beat Planning Software for Field Sales Teams
For consumer brands: software that plans which retail outlets each sales rep visits each day, with an app that tracks store visit frequency.
Beat Planning
Scheduling AI Agent
Route Optimization
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What is beat planning software?
Beat planning software is a tool that decides which outlets each rep visits, how often and on which day. Then it tracks visit frequency and counts each store visit against the plan.
A beat is a fixed set of outlets that one sales rep visits on a set day. A beat plan is the cycle that repeats those beats each week or month. A rep's fixed schedule of beats is called a permanent journey plan, or PJP.
Give reps only a visit count, and they hit it with the easy stops while the big store waits. BeatRoute sets each outlet's visits by what it is worth. A big outlet with an order due comes before a small one that ordered yesterday.
Three ways teams plan beats, and who each one suits:
Fixed beats in a spreadsheet
Same outlets, same day, every week
Cheap to start, but nothing checks the plan against real visits and it goes stale as outlets open and close.
Fine for a small team with a short outlet list.
Route-only tools
The fastest order for today's stops
Route planning cuts travel once you know where to go, but it does not decide which outlets matter or how often.
Right when reps already have a fixed list.
Value-based beat planning
Which outlets, how often, on which day
Sets visit frequency by outlet value, builds the beats and adjusts them as outlets change. This is what BeatRoute does.
Built for consumer brands with distributors and large field teams.
1. Build the beat plan
Good sales visit planning starts with outlets. Sort them, set how often each one is visited, and give every rep a plan they can finish.
Classify outlets by value
Sort outlets into A, B and C classes by sales and potential, so a big supermarket gets more visits than a corner shop.
Set visit frequency for each class
Visit top outlets weekly, the middle every two weeks and the rest monthly. The plan then knows the visits each rep owes.
Build beats that fit a working day
Group nearby outlets by distance and visit time, because a beat a rep cannot finish in a day is too long.
Assign beats as a permanent journey plan
Give each rep a fair weekly or monthly plan with room for urgent visits. An outlet with no beat shows up as a coverage gap.
2. Run the day in the field
Reps open the app to a ready list, check in at the store and do the task that matters most there.
Start the day with a ready visit list
Each rep sees today's beat in order, with the task for every outlet: an order, a payment, an issue or a new promotion.
Check in with a geo-tagged visit
Each check-in records where and when the rep was. You can set a visit to count only when it matches the outlet's saved location.
Move visits when priorities change
When an outlet's orders drop or a payment slips, the Scheduling AI Agent moves it up the day's list. With the agent, productive visits rose from 45% to 78%.
Cut travel with route planning
Route optimization maps the shortest route through each day's stops, so reps miss fewer planned visits.
3. Check planned vs actual visits
See which outlets got their visits and fix the plan before the month ends.
Track planned vs actual visits
See visits made against the plan, and which ended in an order, by rep and by beat, so a missed outlet shows up the same week.
Keep each class on its visit frequency
Watch beat compliance (also called PJP adherence), top-outlet coverage and missed outlets. When a class falls behind, its outlets move up the schedule.
Redraw beats as the market changes
Rebalance beats as outlets open and reps move on. Work out how many reps a territory needs from outlet count, visit frequency and time per visit.
How Valvoline Cummins sees every outlet visit
Valvoline Cummins lifted customer connect from 25–30% to 70%+ with BeatRoute.
BeatRoute gave us exact visibility of which outlets are visited, when, and what happens during those visits. It aligned our ground team with senior management's philosophy, with exceptional help desk support and flexibility.
Resources
Relevant resources
Customer stories and product notes on planning beats and visits.
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Read moreFrequently Asked Questions
What is beat planning software?
Beat planning software, also called beat plan software, is a tool that plans each sales rep's outlet visits and tracks whether they happened. BeatRoute adds a Scheduling AI Agent that moves an outlet up the list when its orders or payments change.
How does BeatRoute build and run a beat plan?
You start by sorting outlets into classes. Class A outlets, the stores that sell the most, get a weekly visit. B outlets get one every two weeks and C outlets once a month. BeatRoute then maps outlet locations and groups nearby outlets into beats. Each beat is sized to fit one rep's working day. Within each beat, route planning sets the sequence of stops so travel and traffic eat less of the day. The beats become each rep's permanent journey plan in the app. Each week, planned vs actual visits, beat compliance and missed outlets show whether the plan is working. Visit patterns show which beats need redrawing as outlets open, close or change in value. For the method behind each step, read our beat planning guide.
Which software tracks retail store visit frequency?
Beat planning software, or a sales force automation app with beat planning built in, tracks it. In BeatRoute you set a visit frequency for each outlet class. Every geo-tagged check-in counts against it. A report shows which outlets are behind plan by rep and by beat.
How many outlets should one beat have?
As many as one rep can visit properly in a working day, and no more. Add up the time each visit takes, plus the travel time between stops. A big store with an order and a shelf check takes longer. If the total runs past the rep's day, split the beat. Dense city areas fit more outlets per beat than spread-out routes, where distance and traffic eat the day.
How is beat planning different from route optimization?
Beat planning decides which outlets each rep covers, how often and on which day. Route optimization takes the outlets on one day's beat and finds the shortest route between them. A sales visit planning process needs both. The beat plan sets the cycle, and route optimization cuts the daily travel time.
What should I look for in beat planning software?
Look for outlet classes with a visit frequency for each, and beats built from location and visit time. You need geo-tagged check-ins and planned vs actual reports by rep, beat and class. The beat plan app should work offline, because many outlets sit where the signal is weak.
Can visits be scheduled around each rep's available hours?
Yes. You set each rep's working hours for each day, and BeatRoute fits the visits into the time they have. You can also pin a visit to a fixed day and time when a shop only takes orders in a set window.