---
title: "In the field"
description: "See every visit as it happens, and which ones need you now."
---
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# In the field
[Open original guide with interactive examples →](/originals/in-the-field/)
## Watch the 2-minute walkthrough
A narrated walkthrough: the problem it solves, the three tiles, what needs attention, opening a visit, texting a rep, live activity, and the table view. Turn on captions with the CC button. The screens show example data.
**The short version** Open **Sales Coach** from the dock and choose **In the field** in the sidebar. Read the three tiles, click **Needs attention** to see only the visits that need you, open a visit to see its steps, and press the message icon to text the rep. **Live activity** shows the last 12 hours. Prefer the old layout? Press **Table**.
## Why it matters
Your reps spend the day inside customers' homes. From the office, it's hard to tell who is actually there, who is running long, or who just skipped a step of your sales process.
**Before**A list of visits, and you had to read every row to find the one that needed you. A visit disappeared the moment the rep left.
**Now**Three tiles count what matters and filter the list. Every visit shows one badge for its most urgent state, and Live activity keeps the last 12 hours.
**Why that helps**You coach while it still matters: a nudge during the visit, not a lesson after the sale is lost.
## Step 1: Read the three tiles
Open **Sales Coach** from the dock and choose **In the field** at the top of the left sidebar. The page refreshes every 30 seconds while you look at it. **Updated … ago** tells you how fresh it is, and **Refresh** checks now.
The three tiles above the visits. Example data.
| Tile | What it counts |
| --- | --- |
| **Checked in** | Reps whose phone confirmed it is at the visit in the last 5 minutes. "1 phone quiet" means one checked-in phone has gone silent. |
| **Live tracking** | Visits where the live tracker is hearing the conversation right now. "1 paused" means no update for over 2 minutes. |
| **Needs attention** | Visits that need you now, with the reasons underneath. |
The sidebar lists every Sales Coach section. Sections marked **Soon** (Messages, Locations & events, Install jobs, Testimonials, Compliance, Credentials) open a short note on what is coming. The team chips above the tiles work the same way: **Sales** is live; **Marketing** and **Installation** are coming soon.
Each tile is also a filter. Click it to show only those visits; click it again to see everyone. A dash (**—**) instead of a number means that signal is off for your workspace, and the tile says why. It never means zero.
## What "Needs attention" means
A visit needs you when one of these is true **and the phone is still sending something**:
- **Running long**: past your visit maximum (set in Sales Coach → Settings → Visit length).
- **Step skipped**: the rep skipped the same sales step twice and managers were emailed. It clears once the rep covers that step.
- **Phone quiet**: the phone stopped sending its location in the last hour, and there is no live tracking either.
**Needs attention** selected: only the visits that need you. Example data.
A phone that has been silent for over an hour stops counting. It moves into **Went quiet over an hour ago** at the bottom of the list, so one dead phone can't keep the tile orange all day. A live nudge on its own ("Not covered yet") is not counted: the rep already sees it on their phone.
## Step 2: Open a visit
Every row is one rep at one visit: **Rep → Customer · Town**, one line saying where things stand, and one badge for the most urgent state (Running long, Step skipped, Phone quiet, Live, Paused or On site).
Click a row to open it. You see when the rep arrived, the last location reading, your visit maximum, and every step of your sales process: covered (✓), the step they are on now, and any step not covered yet.
An opened visit with its sales steps. Example data.
**Live tracking is not the recording** The live tracker listens beside the recording. If it stops working, the visit still records, so _no live updates_ never means the rep isn't recording.
## Step 3: Text the rep
1. Press the **message icon** on the visit.
2. Pick one of the suggested texts, or write your own (up to 320 characters). Suggestions come from the visit's step progress, never from the conversation.
3. Press **Send text**. It goes to the rep's phone from your workspace number, and the row shows the last text you sent.
Texting a rep from the visit. Example data.
The rep needs a mobile number on their profile, and a rep who replied STOP is not texted. When the rep texts back, the reply comes to you in Sales Coach Messages and shows under your text on that visit; it does not become a new lead. The rep is recognised by the mobile number on their profile.
## Step 4: Read Live activity
Beside the visits (or below them on a narrow screen), **Live activity** shows the last 12 hours, newest first:
- a rep **arrived**, or a check-in **didn't verify** (with how far away they were);
- **live tracking started**;
- a step was **skipped twice** and managers were alerted;
- a visit was **marked running long**;
- a rep **left**, how long they stayed, **left early**, and the reason they picked;
- a manager **texted** a rep, or a text didn't send.
Live activity keeps a visit visible after the rep leaves. Example data.
Times are shown in each visit's own time zone, like the rest of the page. A rep's free-text leave note is never shown, only the reason they picked.
## Prefer the old table?
Press **Table** at the top right to switch to the original table, with one row per visit and a column for each detail. Press **Cards** to come back. Your choice is remembered on this computer. The tiles and Live activity work in both views.
The Table view. Example data.
## Who can see it
| Who | In the field | Text a rep |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Owners, admins and managers | Yes | Yes |
| Field reps and other team members | No | No |
Arrival and on-site time need visit check-in, which your account manager turns on. Live tracking needs process steps in your scorecard and your workspace's own AI key; the Visits checklist in **Sales Coach → Settings** shows both.
## Troubleshooting
| What you see | Why | Fix |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **In the field** isn't in the view buttons | You are signed in as a rep. | Only owners, admins and managers see it. |
| **Checked in** shows — | Visit check-in is off for this workspace. | Ask your account manager to turn on check-in. |
| **Live tracking** shows — | No process steps or no AI key, so live tracking can't run. | Press **Open Settings** under the tiles and check the Visits checklist. |
| "No reps are at a visit right now" | Nobody checked in or was tracked in the last 12 hours. | Nothing to do. |
| A visit shows minutes but no "of 90" | No visit maximum is set. | Set it in Sales Coach → Settings → Visit length. |
| Live activity says it couldn't load | A temporary problem reading recent events. | The visits above are still current; it tries again on the next refresh. |
## Questions
**Do we need to turn it on?** No. Every owner, admin and manager sees In the field in Sales Coach.
**Does it show a map or play audio?** No. Only the distance from the visit address is kept, never where the phone was, and nothing here plays audio.
**How long is this kept?** Step progress and location records are kept for 30 days and then deleted. An admin can erase a visit's location evidence sooner from the contact's Sales Coach card.
**Can you help us get started?** Yes. Contact our support team and we'll walk you through it.
Channel Automation · Help · Last updated 2026-10-16.
Questions? Ask your account manager, or open **Help Docs** inside the app — the same guidance lives there.
Source: https://guides.channelautomations.com/coach/in-the-field/index.mdx