.FLYINGHEAD KEEPING SCORE ON MOBILE SOLUTIONS
.TITLE Field sales: Redefining out-of-pocket
.AUTHOR Dale Troppito and Dawna Paton
.SUMMARY To sell their products and services, most companies use a sales force to "spread the word" from one prospect and customer to the next. Sales teams spend most of their working hours on the road, operating out-of-pocket. This month, Dale and Dawna show how handhelds are the missing technology link to keep the sales force connected to, and in sync with headquarters.
.DEPT
Most companies need to "reach out" to sell their products and services, using a sales force to "spread the word" from one prospect and customer to the next. Sales teams spend most of their working hours on the road, operating out-of-pocket. Enterprises face three top challenges with sales:
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.BULLET How to keep sales teams at maximum productivity while in the field.
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.BULLET How to keep sales connected to headquarters in order to keep abreast of sales opportunity developments and status.
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.BULLET How to accomplish timely, effective, information updates on changing product offerings, pricing schedules, and business practices.
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It just turns out that handhelds configured with the right mobile solution are the panacea to these problems. Handhelds are the missing technology link to keep the sales force connected to, and in sync with headquarters, — and vice versa. Now let’s explore why the handheld has such a compelling value proposition for sales forces.
.H1 Enumerating the field problems
Let’s examine the types of problems sales representatives encounter in the field, and how a mobile solution can deal with those issues.
.H2 Being opportunistic & prepared
The sales landscape is a fluid one. Sales opportunities may arise and morph at any time. Enterprises want their sales forces ready and poised to make sales calls as opportunities present themselves.
In such volatile situations, however, it’s difficult for a sales professional to have all the necessary information on hand. Sales history, prospect organizational structure, background on the management team, problems with the account, solution needs, RFPs (Request For Proposal), product availability, resource availability — this is some of the information that a sales person wants to have at their fingertips prior to walking into an account. Handhelds now make this wish a reality.
.BREAK_EMAIL Click here to learn more about Field Sales ROI.
.H2 Keeping up with change
The prospect landscape isn’t the only thing that’s fluid, so is the enterprise itself. Changing organizational structures, new product announcements, pricing schedule and business form updates, new marketing collateral, and new sales tools continue to evolve within any company.
Sales teams constantly need to be plugged into this information flow to have access to the most accurate, timely information. Handhelds overcome this problem, allowing access to the latest information whether in an airport, on the road, in the hotel, or at the sales account.
.H2 Keeping track of status
Tracking status is a bi-directional problem. Headquarters want a real-time executive dashboard on the sales pipeline and the key players at each prospect that’ll make or break the sale. The sales person wants a real-time portal into inventory, manufacturing, production queues, field service work dockets, etc. Handhelds satisfy both parties’ needs.
.H2 Making things happen at corporate
Almost any field sales person has the chronic complaint that it’s difficult to get the necessary level of logistical support from corporate in order to be able to support their accounts. It’s a constant battle to ferret out inventory levels, customer service schedules, manufacturing plans, etc. — let alone get their sales accounts "booked" into the necessary functional groups’ schedules in order to predict the final delivery of the fully customized, configured, and installed products and services to the customer. Handhelds empower the sales staff by enabling them to input scheduling data from the field, while accessing delivery estimates in near real-time.
.H1 Handhelds bring home the money
The field sales force is really just a particular flavor of field force application. As was discussed in last month’s "Keeping Score" column, handhelds deliver several key areas of value by improving data accuracy through real-time capture and the elimination of paper, and they lower field service costs by getting things right on the first field visit.
Handhelds lower shipping costs by not having to ship field information to and from headquarters. Administrative costs are avoided by eliminating the need to manually re-key field data at headquarters. Field force efficiency is increased through better communication and coordination between the field and headquarters.
With handhelds, headquarters and the field agent will make better business decisions and create stronger project management by in better touch with the entire business. Increased customer satisfaction is accomplished by working with customers in an informed, efficient manner.
The good news is that handhelds surpass this already impressive value list for field sales. Sales forces enjoy the extra benefits of pursuing more sales opportunities, achieving higher sales close rates, and shortening the sales cycles. Let’s explore how this is so.
.H2 More sales opportunities
It’s a fact. Sales people work more effectively when they’re totally tapped into the corporate communication chain. Handheld-equipped sales staff are consistently notified of business changes and rescheduled meetings, avoiding re-work and wasted customer trips.
They work more efficiently, and can pursue more sales opportunities in tandem as a result of this efficiency. A larger sales load per sales person means a bigger pipeline. Eliciting probability theory and actual enterprise case studies, handheld field sales solutions lead to more sales — and more revenue.
.H2 Higher sales close rates
Get ’em while they’re hot! That’s a motto that’s well understood by sales teams. When a prospect is ready to make its sales decision, and the right decision-makers are in the room, it’s simply not good sales psychology to say,
"Let me get back to you with that inventory data, pricing data, or production schedule data…"
Implemented correctly, a handheld sales solution enables any sales person to have real-time access to corporate headquarter data, making sure they’re always ready with the answers to prospects’ questions, and ready to close the sale. Hot sales opportunities have less of a chance to cool down. A competing vendor has less of a chance to wedge themselves into the account between meetings. The net result is a higher sales close rate.
.H2 Shortened sales cycles
Simply stated, more gets done in sales meetings conducted by a sales person that’s enabled by a robust mobile sales solution. The logistics of officially consummating the sale and delivering the goods are accomplished with fewer meetings since the sales person has better access to corporate resources and information. Less meetings and less time waiting between scheduled meetingS produces a shorter average sales cycle overall.
.H1 In conclusion
Mobile solutions should be a corporate mandate as the sales tool for field sales organizations. Such a mobile solution keeps the unleashed field sales force in the corporate fold, completely wired into the corporate CRM system. Everyone is happy with the result. Sales teams feel they’re better supported by corporate, and are more productive in the field. Corporate feels they have more accurate insight into the total sales picture. And finally, more revenue and higher sales commissions are universal crowd pleasers!
.H1 What’s next on the docket?
For our next column, we’re going to turn our attention to a very exciting industry sector for mobile solutions: healthcare. Handhelds are redefining how providers deliver and manage care. We’ll be examining the value delivery of mobile charge capture and mobile rounding. So stay tuned.
While we thoroughly enjoy pontificating on our personally selected topics regarding Mobile Enterprise Solutions, we’d like to establish an interactive relationship with you, our reading audience. Monologues are not us! We’d like to invite you to send your questions, opinions and topic suggestions on mobile enterprise solution value delivery to dtroppito@computingunplugged.com. We’ll do our very best to respond expeditiously in our upcoming columns. Looking forward to hearing from you!
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