Now what kind of tech blog would we be if we didn’t riff off of “spring cleaning”? All cheesy blog titles aside though, sometimes you’ve got to go out with the old and in with the new. You’ve likely updated and optimized a great deal of processes and tools in your organization, the field visit process should be no exception.

The field visit is vital to maintaining brand consistency, documenting performance and ensuring optimal customer care. You can’t afford to make this a set it and forget it process; it must always be evolving. Here are some really easy way to spring clean your field visit process to make sure you’re getting the most out of each visit and location.

Eliminate Paper

For more reasons than we can list in this subhead, your field visit process should have gone paperless yesterday. Security, 24/7 access, and storage are just a few of the reasons, but if were to have to break it down to the number one reason to go paperless with your field visit process, it would have to be collaboration.

With the cloud-based technology that Action Card offers, everyone involved in the field visit process has immediate, transparent access to all information gathered during the field visit process. With this technology, true, real-time collaboration can occur around the field visit and the follow through of action items.

Toss Out Those Old KPIs

When is the last time you took stock of your key performance indicators, or any of your review items? Odds are, especially if you’re still running on a paper-based system, that form hasn’t changed in quite some time. Are you still reviewing and reporting on the same things you were 2, 5, 10 years ago?

Take a step back and reflect on the numbers that actually define a store’s success. Are the things you’re currently reviewing and reporting on supporting them? Toss out old KPIs and review items, and report and follow through on the things that really matter. With Action Card, custom review forms are easy to create and modify.

Get Rid of Email

Ok, not totally, but it should play a very small role in anything having to do with the field visit process. You can get to Tallahassee on a bike, but wouldn’t a plane be a tad more efficient? That’s the difference between email and Action Card. They can both technically see each field visit to completion, but one is faster, easier and more convenient. Spoiler Alert: It’s not email.

Dust Off Your People Skills

With paper and email-based field visit processes we were facing huge lag times, tons of preparation, and follow up processes that just didn’t make sense for anyone. Because of the intrinsic inefficiencies that came along with these traditional field visit processes, field visit managers spent most of their time with their faces in clipboards, or trying not to throw the wireless scanner out the window. With the Action Card app, the field visit manager can spend time forging relationships, giving context to review items and helping identify pain points and resolutions.