Overview

Why track activities?

We spend a lot of time strategizing and planning in advance. Who should we talk to? What should we say? How frequently do we visit each account or contact?

It is important to have direction and purpose.

But how do we know if we are talking to the right person? Or saying the right thing? Or using our time well?

The only way to be sure that all of our planning has worked is to evaluate what we have done which we can only do if we document our efforts.

Turning the Corner

We have now moved from planning to execution. This signifies some changes to our perspective:

You have moved from initial setup where you worked with multiple accounts, contacts and events to ongoing maintenance of an account, contact, call-note, and/or expense.
You will now stop using your computer and do your work on your mobile device. (It is not that you can't track activities on a computer, but there are now advantages to using your mobile device.)
Activity tracking takes less time, but you should do it after each visit.

Discipline, Ugh!

Did we say, "after each visit?" Really?

Yes, and there is a reason. Two reasons, to be accurate. If you document your visit immediately, you will remember what you did and said more accurately, and you won't forget important details. Furthermore, documentation isn't just about what you just did. You can also prompt your future self with tidbits of good advice and objectives for your next visit. Then, when you are planning the next visit later, you won't need to remember all your great ideas from the previous visit. Okay, so maybe there are three or four reasons.

ARC - Action, Reaction, Commitment

At Trella Health we just can't help it, we have a best practice for everything, and an acronym to make it all memorable. In this case, the goal is to create meaningful documentation, and the solution is ARC. Each letter represents a type of content required to create meaningful notes.

Action - Summary of what you talked about and names of those with whom you spoke. Remembering who and what is critical, especially if you met a new contact. You will want to review this content before your next visit to be up-to-date on the last visit.
Reaction - What was the response from those who heard your presentation? Did someone ask for a follow up action, meeting, or activity? Was someone interested in more information? What you document under "reaction" will inform any next steps you take in preparation for future interactions with your contacts.
Commitment - Create a list of actions to complete before your next visit.

If you want to see a detailed example, see Creating Meaningful Notes.

Activity Tracking

Important retrospective

As we consider Trella Health best practices, we kinda feel that it is worth mentioning that since you followed ACE up to this point, you will find that tracking your activities is easier, and everything you do will end up connected to the right account and contact.

In summary, what you are going to do is complete your events. As mentioned, this should be done immediately after the visit.

The easiest way to see this process is images with explanations.

	We begin on the Home page. A few quick observations Top box - Notice that from the Home page, you can tap and accomplish many important tasks Bottom box - Some most important month to date stats are always right up front No Data Found - IF you have followed ACE, you should never see this. Since this image was taken from a Trella Health demo account, we can show this to you for educational purposes. In the demo account, we have no events scheduled for July 13. As a result, we don't have any events to complete for July 13. We will click on "Yesterday" to find some events. Next
	This is such a great example of the need for ongoing daily activity tracking. Don't leave yesterday's work until tomorrow. The demo user should have added notes as soon as the visit was over. It is far too easy to forget something important Events are tracked on a map! More observations! Each event shows the description you provided in the Subject field when you created the event. Please notice the difference between the two events. In the top event we followed the best practice of adding specific content to the subject when we created the event. In the top event, we can see where to meet - Wellspan, who we are meeting - Dr. Wenger, and the cadence and purpose - weekly rounds In the bottom event, we only know who we are meeting. Where and for what purpose are not listed. Action - click on the three circles to the far top right of the listed event. This opens the menu. Next!
	Event Shortcut Menu There are a lot of options available when you open the event pop-up menu. From this menu, you can also make changes to the event, or the event series, and add expenses. We can't emphasize enough how easy and important it is to do this as soon as you can after an visit. For this article, tap on "Complete." Next
	Event Notes This is where you will use ARC to fill out your Call/Visit Notes. Of course, you can use the keyboard at the bottom of the screen to type your notes. Voice to text - Notice the voice to text button. (Arrow) This is convenience in your hand. Next
	The most important part here is practicing how to follow ARC as you speak.