trakki
Field sales call report: Excel and Word template
By Manuel Ober · · 5 min read
The templates
Two versions, depending on how you work.
Download the Excel template (10 KB, opens in Excel, LibreOffice, Numbers and Google Sheets)
Download the Word template (36 KB, opens in Word, LibreOffice and Google Docs)
Both files are the German originals: the sheet names, the column headings and the field labels are in German. The columns are explained in English below, and you can rewrite the headings in your own language. One thing to keep if you do: the "Art" column is counted by the "Monat" sheet through the exact words "Besuch" and "Telefonat", so either keep those two words or adjust the two formulas on that sheet.
The Excel version is a list: one row per contact, and the month counts itself. It is the right one if you want to look at your visits over time.
The Word version is a form for a single visit, to print or to fill in on the laptop. It is the right one if you have to hand in reports one by one, or if you would rather write on paper. One page, with fields for Kunde (customer), Ort (town), Datum (date), Gesprächspartner (person you spoke to), Funktion (their role), Anlass (reason for the call), Was besprochen wurde (what was discussed), Ergebnis (outcome), Nächster Schritt (next step) and Nächster Besuch am (next visit on).
- Besuche (contacts). One row per contact: Datum (date), Kunde (customer), Ort (town), Art (type: visit, phone call, email, video), Ansprechpartner (contact person), Dauer (duration in minutes), Besprochen (what was discussed), Ergebnis / Nächster Schritt (outcome and next step), Wiedervorlage am (follow-up on). Two example rows show the idea.
- Monat (month). Counts visits, phone calls, how many different customers, and how many follow-ups are overdue. That is the report for your manager, without you writing one.
- So geht's (how it works). Four sentences on filling it in.
Why most call reports are worth nothing
Because they are written for the manager, not for the next visit. Three paragraphs of prose in the evening, saying that the conversation was "constructive". Six months later nobody remembers what the customer actually wanted.
A call report has one single purpose: next time, you know in ten seconds what happened last time. Everything that does not serve that can go.
The five entries that count
- When and with whom. Date, customer, contact person. Without the name the report is worthless in three months, when the pharmacy has a new manager.
- What kind of contact. A visit counts differently from a phone call, both in the call cycle and in the report.
- What the customer said. One sentence. "Won't order until after the summer, stock is full." Not what you presented.
- What you do next. One sentence. "Call back in early September with a quote." That is the line that prepares the next visit.
- When. The follow-up date. Without a date the next step is just an intention.
The duration is optional but useful. If you know that a visit to this customer takes 45 minutes, you plan the day properly. How time on site feeds into the plan for the day is in the guide Why the field sales day runs longer than planned.
Two minutes in the car, not an hour in the evening
The report gets written straight after the appointment, before the engine runs. At that point it is all still there: the name, the sentence, the next step. In the evening it is five reports, and they all sound the same.
That is the real reason for one row per contact instead of a paragraph: a row you manage in the car. A paragraph you put off.
The monthly report writes itself
If you have one row per contact, you have the report at the end of the month: filter on the month, read the "Monat" sheet. Number of visits, number of phone calls, how many different customers, how many follow-ups overdue. That is more than most prose reports deliver, and it costs no minutes at all.
Whatever your manager wants beyond that is in the "Ergebnis" column: filtered by customer, for the quarter, passed on as an Excel file. In the detail you decide on.
Where the template stops
The rows do not know where the customer is and when they are due again. If you want the call report and the due date together, the visit history has to sit with the customer, not in a separate spreadsheet: every visit moves the due date, and the next appointment shows up on the map.
That is exactly how trakki does it. Visits and phone calls are recorded with the customer, with date and note, the due date is worked out again, and the report is an Excel export whenever you need it. Trying it costs nothing, to the home page.
Frequently asked questions
Does a call report need the customer's signature?
No. That would be a handover record, not a call report. A report documents for you what happened and what comes next. If you need signed proof for compliance reasons, for instance for drug samples in pharma, keep that separately and follow your company's rules.
How long do I keep call reports?
As long as the customer is a customer. Three years of a customer's history is worth more than any list when a territory changes hands. Keep the notes factual, write nothing private, and clear out the rows for a contact person who has left.
Is the template enough for a team?
For one person, yes. As soon as several people visit the same customers, you need a shared system, otherwise everyone has their own version of the truth. That is the line where a CRM starts and where trakki deliberately stops.