Sales are the lifeblood of any successful business. The warriors who pound the pavement or the phone lines day after day are always looking for ways to stay ahead of their competitors and tell their stories in the most compelling way, which is why they are often early adopters of technology. If you were in sales “back in the day,” like I was, you might recall schlepping all sorts of gadgets from luggable computers to huge projectors to meetings.
Today, the best way to tell your story is with a customized mobile app that can be used on a tablet or a smartphone. 2014 research by sales messaging firm Corporate Visions, done in conjunction with sales process software solutions provider SAVO, found that six out of 10 B2B salespeople show clients “how-to’s” on tablets. Tablet content apps transform sales because of their portability, access to real-time data, better visual engagement with the customer during demos, the ability to customize a presentation quickly, and real-time collaboration with a widely dispersed sales team.
But do mobile apps work in actually closing sales? According to well-respected industry analyst firms, they do. For example, according to Aberdeen Research, 23percent more firms meet team sales quotas when employing a sales mobility strategy.
Sales Apps That Work
Do you have a complex product, or a wide-ranging product line? A highly customizable app that allows your team to pick and choose which videos to launch or what sequence of features and benefits to showcase is a huge advantage over typical PowerPoint or Keynote slides. A couple of examples demonstrate the mobile sales app’s usefulness.
EMC Interactive delivers presentations on EMC’s chief technology solutions – from cloud computing to desktop virtualization.The app uses many touch-friendly interactive elements like swipeable image sequences. Users drag a finger across the screen, watching an animation unfold as they control it. This makes it easy for a sales executive to demonstrate complex concepts, like comparing new EMC cloud technology and processes with competing or obsolete approaches.
EMC Interactive is used globally by hundreds of salespeople who say that the app makes initial sales meetings hugely engaging and gives reps a competitive edge. They have shared the engaging presentations with thousands, worldwide.
Payment technologies and merchant services leader Merchant Warehousecreated a sales presentation app for the iPad. The app features interactive videos and can be added to or updated quickly. The app is still useful three years later. It is still regularly updated and used by sales, but is also employed by marketing and HR staff to quickly bring partners and new employees up to speed on a multifaceted business.
Tips For Making Your App Shine
Get a platform solution. When you think of making a mobile sales app, you may think huge budgets and a team of developers, but today’s sophisticated platforms eliminate that hassle and cost. Think of what WordPress did for websites. The same goes for mobile apps. Pick a platform that is cost-effective and keeps up with changing device sizes and everything that happens with Apple or Google, so you don’t have to. Focus your creativity on content, not code.
Design to delight. Engagement is key to ROI and a focus on making your app look as great as the apps your customer chooses to use in his free time is key to making that sale. Invest in great graphics, use video, and experiment with elegant tapping and swiping features that will engage and surprise your customers. Today’s platforms make this easy to do with simple prompts.
Take advantage of push notifications. The app should be easy to update, and live as a vital communication channel driving further engagement. This can be done through various messaging capabilities – from real-time notifications of client wins for the whole global sales team, to in-app news feeds. If you do this, you’ll find HR and marketing begin to leverage your app for educating partners and new employees.
The Road Ahead
According to The Sales Management Association, 70 percent of executives in sales organizations are seeing a favorable ROI in equipping their sales teams with tablets and a full 90 percent of surveyed sales organizations plan to increase their investment in tablet sales solutions. While we are still just beginning to see how top organizations are beginning to leverage this great tool, it has become clear that the technology holds great promise. And if anyone can figure out interesting and creative ways to use technology, it’s sales people.
Gregg Hano is chief executive officer of Mag+. He was formerly a senior vice president of corporate sales and the Bonnier Technology Group, where he oversaw corporate sales for the company as well as brand management for Popular Science, Popular Photography, American Photo and Sound + Vision. Prior to that he was vice president and group publisher for the Bonnier Technology Group.
