Today’s sales professionals are expected to negotiate, close and complete deals while traveling as easily as they can when they are in the office. That was the promise that came first with laptops, then smartphones and now the cloud. And while main offices and managers believe that their sales teams can meet this expectation, reality is unfortunately much different.
One of the biggest limitations preventing them from maximizing their potential while travelling is a lack of connectivity: these professionals often times just can’t get a decent Wi-Fi signal. Negotiators are equipped with top-spec devices that enable them to complete sales on the go, but most force themselves to limit their own data usage when abroad to avoid extortionate roaming charges. And when they do find wireless, it comes at a serious cost. Research has shown that European businesses overspend on connectivity by a whopping £2.4 billion ($3.9 billion) per year.
To make this even worse, The Business Traveller Report shows that even when Wi-Fi can be accessed, travelling professionals often face difficulties using it, especially in places where it’s most needed, such as airports and hotels. Many of them find free Wi-Fi connections slow and insecure and paid options costly and rigid. Some resort to purchasing expensive Wi-Fi day passes even when they only need connectivity briefly. Both Wi-Fi options have taxing login and registration processes, which are a nuisance to most, but especially those that are that are protective of their personal data. It’s bad enough that Wi-Fi connectivity is expensive, but these additional problems add undue stress to their lives. If sales teams can’t connect easily and cheaply to Wi-Fi, then their laptops and smartphones are hobbling instead of empowering them.
With the cost and speed of cellular data, most salespeople prefer Wi-Fi as their favored form of connectivity and would love as many hotspots as possible. Many now also use data-hungry cloud and unified communications applications such as Sales Cloud and WebEx on a daily basis, which have become critical tools of the trade. Sales professionals need the ability to connect to these apps at the bandwidth and speed of Wi-Fi than they are used to in their offices and homes. Research suggests that over three-quarters of travelling professionals would use these applications more if equipped with global Wi-Fi access. But as it stands, around the same number of them (75%) feel that limited access to Wi-Fi is restricting their productivity outside of the office.
In modern times sales professionals need to be able to access a global Wi-Fi network. This would allow cost-effective and hassle-free connectivity wherever they are in the world. Wi-Fi needs to become more like the cellular experience we have today, albeit without inconsistent speeds and high roaming costs. Many sales departments fail to consider connectivity as important to sales missions as flights or accommodation when arranging business travel – but this has to change; both for the hungry negotiator eager to stay productive and firms that want to curb their communication expenses. Global Wi-Fi is no longer optional for the modern enterprise and its sales teams. Imagine how many deals have been lost or poorly negotiated because a lack of Wi-Fi crippled a salesperson’s ability to do their job effectively with the tools they need. Rather than accept the status quo, salespeople must make employers aware that staying connected is critical.
Patricia R. Hume is the Chief Commercial Officer of iPass, Inc., which provides global enterprises and telecommunication carriers with cloud-based mobility management and Wi-Fi connectivity services.
