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Canvassers Selling from the Phone: Receive, Sell, Collect, Settle

Level Basic Role Canvasser Module Canvassing About 9 minutes
Updated

Picture a field sales rep with no app on their phone at all. Stock gets loaded onto the motorbike or van based on a guess or a handwritten note, and then the rep vanishes for the day into a route the store itself cannot really see into. Transactions get scribbled on paper or a little notebook, copied over to the store that evening — if there is time, if nothing got forgotten, if the handwriting is still legible. The moment signal drops out in the outskirts of town, the store goes even more blind: nobody knows what is happening in the field until the rep drives back in.

Automan Mobile turns the canvasser’s own phone into the store’s point of entry. It is not a side tool bolted onto the system — the phone itself is where the data enters, from the second the load is accepted to the second the settlement is counted. There is no “copy it over to the store later” gap, because there is nothing left to copy: the transaction was already recorded in the system the moment it was tapped in.

What sets this apart from being just a pocket-sized point-of-sale app is two things running together. First, work keeps going even when signal comes and goes on the road — transactions are held on the phone and sent by themselves once signal returns, each phone carrying its own invoice number quota so numbers never collide between reps who happen to be offline at the same time. Second, exactly what you are and are not allowed to do in the field — changing a price, collecting a debt, accepting a return — is fully controlled by the store from a distance, and it takes effect the instant it is changed, with nothing for you to update.

This tutorial walks through a full day from your phone’s point of view: from accepting the load to settling up at the end of the route. Follow it in order, and you will know exactly when the app is working for you — and when something missing from the screen is not the app’s fault at all, but a policy the store deliberately set that way.

Note

UI screenshots for this tutorial are on their way. You can still follow the guide through the menu, button, and field names given in each step.

Before you start

  • Automan Mobile is already installed on the phone, the device is paired to the store, and the store owner has approved it.
  • You are already signed in with your own user account, and today's load has already been prepared for your trip by the store.

Steps

  1. Make sure your device and account are ready before you leave

    Two things need to be in place before the wheels start turning: your phone paired to the store's Store App and approved by the store owner, and you signed in with your own user account — not borrowing another rep's login. Neither is a formality: without them the app simply will not open for work. Once you are in, you land on the tab Keliling — the first tab along the bottom of the app, where every step in this tutorial takes place. If this is your first time, follow the Automan Mobile install tutorial first, then come back here.

  2. Accept the load — one tap, and the trip officially starts

    The store has already prepared the list of goods you are carrying today. Your job on the phone is one action: confirm you have received it. That first confirmation tap is what marks the trip as started — not when the store prepared the list, not when you drove out the gate, but the moment you yourself declare the goods are in hand. From that second on, there is a clear record of who is carrying what and how much. Once confirmed, the status card at the top of the screen switches to "Sedang keliling" ("Currently on the road"), complete with a store picker and a running "Perkiraan kas di tangan" ("Estimated cash on hand") figure that starts counting from that moment. The load you just accepted can be reopened any time through the Muatan ("Load") button in the menu grid — it shows a "SUDAH dikonfirmasi" ("Already confirmed") status, a summary of item types and pieces carried, and a "Sisa Muatan Saat Ini" ("Current remaining load") figure that updates with every transaction.

  3. Sell to the customer right there at the door

    The moment someone buys, record it on the spot. There is no writing it on paper first to copy over to the store later — the transaction is captured then and there on the phone, with the item and its value. If the store lets you change prices, that field opens up; if not, prices stay locked to the list and you do not have to negotiate something that is not yours to negotiate. From the tab Keliling, tap the JUAL ("Sell") button to open the Jual screen: type into the "Cari barang, merk, varian…" ("Search item, brand, variant…") box or narrow it down with the category and brand filters, and watch the "sisa N" ("N left") figure on each product card to see what stock you are still carrying. Tap the "+" button on a product card to add it to the transaction.

  4. Collect on old debts, if the store allows it

    While you are out, you can accept an installment or full payoff on an old invoice directly from a customer who owes the store — if this permission is switched on for you. Each customer's credit limit is also set by the store, so you do not need to remember who is allowed to owe how much; the app enforces it. The TAGIH ("Collect") button sits right next to JUAL on the tab Keliling — tap it to start taking an installment or payoff.

  5. Take a return at the customer's door, if allowed

    Goods a customer wants to return can be accepted right there, without sending them to the store — as long as this permission is active on your account. If it is not, direct the customer to return through the store as usual. This is the Retur ("Return") entry in the tab Keliling menu grid.

  6. Record an order without the stock leaving now, if allowed

    Have a customer who wants to order something not in today's load, or wants it delivered later? If this permission is active, you can record the order from the phone without deducting the stock you are carrying — unlike a regular sale, nothing actually leaves your hands yet. It shows up as Pesanan ("Order") in the same menu grid as Muatan and Retur.

  7. Print a receipt straight from the phone to a Bluetooth printer

    Once a transaction is saved, the receipt can be printed straight from the phone to the Bluetooth printer you carry. The customer holds physical proof on the spot, with no need to circle back to the store to have a receipt printed.

  8. Signal drops on the road? The app keeps working as normal

    This is what sets field work apart from working at a screen back at the store: the moment signal drops, transactions do not stop and do not disappear. Everything is held on the phone first and sent by itself once signal returns. Every phone carries its own invoice number quota, so even with several reps offline on different routes at once, invoice numbers never clash once everything gets sent later. You can check what has already been recorded through the Riwayat ("History") button in the same menu grid.

  9. If you need to hand off part of the load to another rep mid-route

    Sometimes a load needs to move to another rep partway through the day — heavy stock running low on one phone, for example. That handover happens by scanning a QR code between the two phones, and if the store requires it, the handover is only counted as valid once a proof photo is attached. Without that photo, the handover is rejected. This entry is named Serah Terima ("Handover") in the tab Keliling menu grid.

  10. Your limits are set by the store, and change instantly — not tomorrow

    Every permission above — adding customers, changing prices, collecting debts, taking returns, reloading mid-trip — plus trip length limits and credit limits, is set by the store owner on the web side. The moment the owner changes it, the change applies on your phone right away, with no app update needed. So if a button suddenly disappears or appears, that is not a bug — that is the store's policy having just been adjusted.

  11. Close the day with a settlement — cash and leftover stock reconciled together

    At the end of the trip, you hand over the cash you collected and whatever stock did not sell. The store reconciles the cash that should be on hand against the cash actually counted, and the stock that should be left against what is actually counted. If everything matches, the trip is done. If there is a gap, it gets recorded clearly and the store owner decides what happens next — it is not something that just gets waved away. Tap the Setor ("Settle") button in the menu grid to open the screen: the "Uang" ("Cash") section shows "Perkiraan kas menurut HP: Rp N" ("Estimated cash per phone: Rp N") next to a "Uang fisik dihitung" ("Physical cash counted") field you fill in by hand, and below it the "Hitung Fisik Barang Bawaan" ("Count physical stock carried") section lists each product with a "(seharusnya N)" ("should be N") figure to reconcile one by one.

What you end up with

A canvasser's full day of work is captured entirely from the phone — receiving the load, selling, collecting, returns, all the way to settlement — with no paper and no stopping even when signal drops on the road.

If something goes wrong

Signal dropped mid-route — is my transaction lost?

No. The transaction is held on the phone first and sent by itself once signal returns. You do not need to re-enter anything or worry about losing data — just avoid closing or uninstalling the app before everything has sent.

The buttons for collecting debts, returns, or changing prices do not appear on my phone

That permission is set per account by the store owner, and it can differ between reps. If you think it should be on, ask the owner to check and enable it from the Canvas settings on the web side — the change applies instantly, with no app update needed on your end.

My new phone cannot start a trip

Every phone has to be paired to the store first and wait for the store owner's approval before it can be used. Also make sure you are signed in with your own user account, not another rep's.

No receipt comes out of the printer

Check that the Bluetooth printer is on and paired to the phone. If this is the first time using it, pair the Bluetooth connection first before trying to print a transaction receipt.

A handover to another rep gets rejected

If the store requires a proof photo, the handover simply will not be counted as valid without one. Also make sure both phones scanned the same QR code and both sides completed the confirmation, not just one.

At settlement, the cash or stock does not match

The gap gets recorded as-is — that is not an app error. Note down your explanation in the field provided; the follow-up decision (record only, charge to you, or book as damaged goods) sits with the store owner.

Related tutorials

Related option

See the Canvassing feature Use Automan free