Mobile adoption has grown for years and in 2014 overtook desktop/laptop as the top source of digital consumption. Consumer use is also heavily influencing businesses’ mobile adoption and deployment strategies. One of the areas that is most impacted by the move to mobile are sales teams. There are significant opportunities and benefits of this shift.
Businesses have realized that they need to support this move to mobile. Research by TechValidate shows that 43% of companies now rank mobility as their top business functionality. From the same study, 79% of companies surveyed said they have to integrate their applications into existing technology, with the majority of businesses having to ensure that their new applications integrate with up to 15 different existing systems. This means that an organization’s legacy systems on old servers, IBM Power Systems and others will need to be modernized to support mobile devices.
There are many opportunities for sales teams to take advantage of the move towards mobile.
1. Supporting the Sale
There are many situations where your sales team may be working out of the office. Mobile devices and tablets are a great way to support the sales process improving demos, presentations and sharing of images. The use of tablets also enhances a customer’s experience in situations where they come to a company’s location, such as at automotive dealers, restaurants and financial institutions.
2. Useful Off-the-Shelf Apps
There are plenty of great free mobile sales tools that can be found in app stores such as LinkedIn, Evernote, Twitter, and integrations to your CRM.
3. Real-Time Sales Information
The biggest opportunity for many businesses and sales teams is in having their mobile devices connected directly to their legacy systems. This would mean having real-time access to pricing, inventory, and other information that can assist in more effective customer engagement and closing a sale. This should shorten the sales cycle and lead to more sales as the data is accurate and live.
4. Faster Processing for Sales Orders
In many situations, the sales person may collect orders in paper formats and then bring them back to the office for processing. This means a delay between when they receive the order, when they get to the office and when they finally are able to input the order into the system. Submitting the sale on a mobile device at the customer’s site can reduce product delivery time which makes for a happier customer. For the business, it means increased productivity and quicker inventory turnover.
5. Better Visibility on the Sales Process
There are many benefits of mobile data at head office for the marketing, finance and operations teams. A smartphone with a built in camera could collect what displays look like in a retail location for the marketing department. The finance team will benefit from orders being placed in real time, versus relying on slow manual processes. The operations team can manage inventory and the delivery process more effectively and efficently.
6. Sales Enablement
Poor preparation is one of the top 3 reasons sales are lost today. When the sales team has access to mobile technology, there is the opportunity for them to better utilize sales enablement tools. Sales enablement is a better way of training and helping your sales team with the right tools at the right time to close a sale.
If you are interested in understanding the impact of having your business applications enabled for mobile devices, please connect with us for a consultation.
