What is a mobile sales tool?

For many years, the tools of a sales person were things like:

Rolodex
Phone (desk)
Printed literature / marketing materials / sales brochures
A winning smile / charming personality
A fancy pen
A nice briefcase
A sharp-looking suit

More recently, we’ve added some nice upgrades like:

CRM system
Mobile phone
Laptop

Since the arrival of the Internet in combination with cell phones and tablets, the game has changed.

Now, information can be search for, located and shared with customers. What this means is clear: up to date content can be available 24/7, there can be interactive content through sales enablement platforms, and sales reps can even update their CRM system through a mobile app.

Mobile sales tool defined: an application or platform or suite that is used to enable the sales process conveniently from a tablet or smart phone any time, anywhere.

How do mobile sales tools help front-line sellers?

Shockingly, sales reps only spend about a third of their time on selling activities. The rest of it is spent on other activities like admin, internal meetings, and training.

Outside sales networks need a mobile sales system in order to have all the information at their fingertips when they need it, whether it's a sales tool app or something else.

Mobile selling tools offer a key benefit to sales organizations – they reduce the time spent on non-selling.

1. Update information faster

One of the benefits of mobile selling tools is you have them when you’re, wait for it……mobile.

Countless hours are spent managing CRM’s in the sales job. Most of that time is important.

Sales people spend a lot of time on the road, or at least away from their workstation, so giving them the ability to update contact details or other relevant information while mobile is a critical time-saver. Multi-tasking or at least time-saving is the name of the game.

2. Make it easy for reps to find the things they need (sales enablement software)

Industry research tells us that sales people spend on average 4 hours a week just looking for information – files, marketing collateral, product info, pricing information, the latest specs on that new piece of equipment. Imagine how much more selling time you could create (and how much more your sales reps would love your organization) if all the info they needed to sell was in a mobile app, in their pocket.

3. Centralized, mobile-friendly resources (DAM, mobile apps)

Easy to access resources are just part of the solution. In B2B, what sales often needs is a custom calculator (ROI, TCO, finance, gear axle ratio, etc.), or product comparison, or visual product navigator.

The Bottom Line

Want your people to sell more? Simple.

Reduce the amount of time they spend not selling – by equipping them with mobile sales tools.

Mobile sales tools can’t magically turn a C-player into your top producer, but whether any given rep is a top-producer or not, it stands to reason you can get more production if the rep can simply spends more time selling.

Increase selling time to increase production.