Visit Report Template for Trade Shows and Field Service

Visit report, what does it mean?

For many sales reps, visit reports are THE way to record and analyze customer information on the go. For this reason, these reports are especially important for field sales and trade show work. The main idea is simple: You consider in advance what information you need from your prospect for your sales process and create a customized questionnaire. It is essential that this information is completely recorded for subsequent follow-up and analysis.

Based on the questionnaire you have created, all the information is compiled during the meeting and attached to a business card. After the trade fair or field service, the completed visit reports are then used to contact the prospects again. A CRM system is often used in this step, which is filled with the information from the visit report. Here it is important that the sales representative fills out the visit report directly during the conversation or afterwards. The atmosphere of a trade fair and the many meetings can cause important information to be forgotten just a few days after the trade fair.

Why use a visit report template?

The advantage of a template is obvious – and yet at trade fairs and in the field sales, you see sales staff noting down their conclusions on a piece of paper or just collecting business cards without taking down any further information. With a customized questionnaire, you can record your customer meetings in a structured way and ask for all important information to make the most of your sales opportunity. Based on the questions and answers in the visit report, you can then classify your prospects into different groups in the follow-up, which will be handled accordingly in the sales meeting. In addition, the visit report sets the course for longer-term cooperation. By documenting the essential key figures and meeting notes – first on paper and then directly into the CRM system after the trade show – it is also possible to see later in the CRM which problems, requirements and possible wishes the respective customer has. This information enables the sales employee to see at any time how he has convinced the customer and when he needs to react to possible problems.

What makes a good visit report template?

Decisive for a useful template are the questions or information that are specifically asked. There are significant differences depending on the industry. Basically, we can say that sales employees collect important data about the company as well as the contact person via the visit report. Master data, company size and product interest are in first place.

By consistently evaluating the visit reports, the information collected can even be used to make strategic decisions afterwards, for example, based on customer responses regarding the size of the company. If, for example, closing rates are significantly lower at larger companies, this could lead to conclusions about weaknesses in the sales process. A visit report can therefore always be used as the starting point for an analysis of field service activities or trade show visits.