With outside sales reps spending about half of their day selling remotely, your mobile customer relationship management (CRM) is a crucial tool for your company’s success. Mobile CRM solutions, such as iPad CRM are changing the sales landscape in a number of ways.
In addition to allowing your sales team to be more organized and productive, mobile CRM gives your team constant access to software that tracks their leads and customers. This connectivity is particularly critical in today’s environment where customers expect service that is responsive and immediate.
According to the Inbound Sales Network, your sales team should follow up with prospects within an hour from when they contact your company. After that, chances that a customer will accept your call are diminished every 48 hours that pass, with a 60 to 70 percent drop after seven days.
“Perpetual connectivity creates tremendous opportunities for businesses to get work done / increase productivity and to create very unique positive experiences for customers, employees and partners,” writes industry analyst Michael Fauscette. “It also though, puts a lot of pressure on businesses to ensure that they make the best use of mobile technologies to provide these experiences across all those constituents, not as an option but as a core component of any strategy.”
Mobile technology is no longer new but is now a necessary tool for any sales team. Here are three ways that mobile CRM has changed the sales landscape.
1. Customers’ expectations are higher. Your customers know that your sales team is mobile-and they expect quick responses and access to the information they need. If customers want an updated configuration with tweaked details or multiple quotes that include different features, they expect their salesperson to email them an accurate update as soon as possible.
“Legacy CRM systems were designed when customer expectations of responsiveness weren’t accelerating as fast as they are now,” writes Forbes contributor Louis Columbus in a recent article. “Sales teams today have to get up and running on a new CRM application literally in hours or days to be effective.”
But customers’ expectations include customer service in addition to sales. They may want their salesperson to schedule a service call, update their businesses’ contact information or change an order via your sales team’s mobile CRM solution.
2. Mobile CRM makes your sales team’s lives easier. Find out what tasks your sales team performs frequently or tasks that are challenging. Mobile CRM solutions make those tasks easier and faster to complete. It facilitates your salespeople’s workflow as they input the data they work with throughout the day, from completing phone calls to clients and processing sales orders to finishing meetings and scheduling follow ups.
To further enhance your sales team’s workflow, a mobile CRM that is customized to your business needs further simplifies and speeds your sales team’s processes and includes information that helps your team improve customer service.
3. Mobile CRM gives your business more opportunity to grow. Mobile CRM supports your business growth in a number of areas. Perhaps your company is looking at moving into different areas or expanding the products offered. Most mobile CRMs easily incorporate business changes and are editable. Mobile CRM solutions allow managers visibility into sales trends, forecasting, and team results. Mobile CRM also helps your business grow if you want to sell to bigger companies.
“Bigger clients may need more resources from your sales team,” writes Shawn Hessinger, editor of Small Business Trends. “This could mean more resources to land them in the first place and then to continue providing service over the length of the relationship.” Mobile CRM gives you real-time visibility into how your sales team is spending their time so you can reassign team members as necessary, keeping your clients pleased with the service you provide.
As CRM continues to evolve, it’s important for you to keep tabs on how mobile CRM is changing the sales landscape. Since mobile CRM has become the norm, sales are changing and customers’ expectations are higher. Customer service expectations include constant access and help in areas beyond sales. Even as they’re asked to improve customer service, your team’s workflow can be eased by mobile CRM solutions that incorporate your business’ specific needs. Mobile CRM solutions also allow your business to grow as opportunities arise, such as working within a new area or working with a large company.
Discover how Powertrak’s CRM tablet can be tailored for your business and help your sales team surpass customers’ expectations.