It doesn’t seem to matter what industry you’re in these days, sales success comes with speed and execution. If reps are slow to respond to customers, prospects or website inquiries, if they have inaccurate data on inventory, pricing, quotes or contracts, or if they are unable to advance the sales cycle while on the road

in general, there’s no doubt — in today’s mobile-enabled workplace — that it will have a negative impact on the bottom line.

Enterprise Mobility Can Accelerate Sales Cycles

Mobility, you could argue, may even level the playing field. The ubiquity of smart phones and Internet connected devices has transformed developed cultures into ‘instant reward, always on’ populations. That means a company may not have the best product on the market, but if the Sales team is quick to respond, accurate with data and timely with their interactions, it can be a game-changer.

Customers demand more attention, faster responses and better service every day — so setting an ‘attentive, responsive’ tone even in early stages of the sales cycle can mean the difference between a win or a loss. And for customer retention and organic growth within the base, mobility can empower the sales and account teams to spend more time on forward-thinking, problem solving strategies for cross-sell and up-sell opportunities.

Mobility is Like Adding High Octane Gas to the Sales Engine

Mobility provides the ‘high octane gas’ to your sales engine. It can turn B and C sales reps into A reps, and it can make A reps into future leaders of the company.

For sales reps, instant access to mission-critical information that resides in the back-end CRM or ERP systems can be a key component of their success. For instance, in certain industries, the price is determined on the quantity ordered, the delivery date, etc. If the sales rep can check the quantity available to be shipped, when can it be delivered and get the price (calculated by the ERP), they effectively compress the sales cycle by creating and delivering a quote in real-time, rather than responding back one or several days later with the information.  Thus in my view, mobile enabling the sales team should include CRM, as well as the ERP information relevant to the sales personnel, to generate the maximum value and accelerate the sales cycle.

What motivates sales people?  Selling… and commissions… and selling, oh, and commissions…  But if you demonstrate how they can get more done with less effort, spend less time on admin work and data entry, and actually shorten cycles with mobility, then you have a recipe for future success.

Speed is of the Essence, Time is a Killer

The truth is, sales people have been working from mobile phones and laptops for a long time now. They have been patiently waiting for the enterprise to catch up, but the days of waiting on the company are growing short. Many sales reps simply work from their own devices and find work-arounds to get more done in less time.

CTOs, IT Directors and Heads of Sales Departments should ask themselves, “is creating work-arounds really OK, or could we be advancing our front office capabilities to better align processes and data for far better outcomes in the sales cycle?” If you haven’t already asked this question about your team, maybe you should.

It’s important to remember that mobility is already a requirement, and in most cases still viewed as a market differentiator in the front end sales and support cycles…  but what’s even more important is that soon (I predict within 2-3 years), it will be a baseline price to entry to even compete — no matter what industry you’re in.

If I’m right, then it’s better to get going now.