Imagine missing out on a sale because your field sales rep couldn’t answer a customer’s question quickly enough. Maybe the information is back at the office on the computer or even on paper. Calling the office won’t work either since the right person might not be around to take the call. Even if they are, they may need time to find the answer.
Today’s customers have been conditioned online where information is available at their fingertips. According to Accenture in “Top-Five Focus Areas for Improving Sales Effectiveness Initiatives,” “By the time buyers meet sales representatives for the first time, they often are more than 50 percent through the buying process. To keep pace, companies must move their marketing, sales and service functions from an analog front-office to a digital one.”
Since a delay in responding to a question about pricing, availability, service and support might send a prospect to another supplier; it’s important to mobilize field sales teams with the right devices and apps.
Accenture advises companies take advantage of mobile, along with social, analytics and cloud computing to meet customers where they want to transact.
Choose the right CRM app
To be most effective, field sales reps on the go should be able to view and modify Customer Service Management (CRM) information that provides them with contacts, purchasing history and opportunities. Also apps that enable synchronization of calendars to minimize back-and-forth communication to schedule a meeting, events and tasks help to keep reps up to date on important activities and action items.
In choosing a CRM package for small business, consider some of the following issues:
- Is the software built specifically for small business?
- Is it easy to use?
- Can it be customized?
- Will it integrate with other solutions you use?
- What type of security features does it have to protect company and customer data?
Mobile UC helps boost communications and collaboration
Field sales teams also can benefit from mobile Unified Communications (UC) platforms for collaboration and communication with other team members. A basic mobile UC system enables field sales team members to forward calls from a desk phone to their mobile devices, so they don’t miss a call. They also can access email, voicemail and company directories from smartphones and tablets.
More fully featured mobile UC apps integrate audio, video and web conferencing and support presence, which tells the user if someone they need to reach is available to talk or chat before reaching out to make the connection. Another useful feature is one number ring, which enables a call to ring on a number of phones – desk at the office, mobile or home phone – until someone answer or the call goes to voicemail. One number ring – also called Find me/Follow me – means someone never misses a call.
Help field sales “Go Mobile” with Plantronics Promotion
Empower small business field sales reps with Plantronics “Go Mobile” promotion to enable them to hear and be heard with complete clarity wherever they are. Buy 10 Voyager 5200 UC headsets and receive a FREE Voyager Focus UC from now through March 31, 2017.
The Voyager 5200 UC is Plantronics latest Bluetooth® headset system, featuring the company’s most advanced adaptive noise cancelling. Voyager Focus UC is a stereo Bluetooth headset with active noise cancelling that blocks out the external world for total focus.
Find out more about this special offer at: http://www.plantronics.com/us/offers/.