1. Every van is a warehouse
Morning loading is a transfer from the main warehouse to the van, sales deduct from the van, and unloading is a transfer back. The van balance is known at any moment.
2. Every rep has a cash account
Collections go into the rep's custody account, and hand-overs are recorded as transfers to the company account. Cash on hand is always a clear number.
3. Record at the time of sale
Paper gets lost. Sales and collections are recorded on the phone at the customer, even without signal, and sync later.
4. A credit limit for every customer
Unlimited credit sales are the main source of bad debt. Set a limit per customer and let the software refuse credit sales above it.
5. A written route
Each route has set customers in order, and reps log visits even without a sale, so you know who was visited and why not.
6. Settle every day
At day end: sales, returns and collections; expected versus actual van stock; expected versus received cash. A shortage found the same day gets resolved; one found a month later becomes a dispute.