Can I finally leave my laptop at home?

There’s no doubt about it, the mobile workforce is on the rise, and with it the multitude of devices that workers turn to on a daily basis is rising as well. According to Forrester Research’s 2013 Mobile Workforce Adoption Trends study, 29% of the global workforce is considered mobile and uses 3 or more devices on a weekly basis.

Salespeople have always been mobile, so they likely represent a large proportion of this group. In the past salespeople would be expected to head to a meeting with a stack of printed documents and refer to them throughout their meetings, but the adoption of multiple digital devices has changed that drastically. Now salespeople have access to so many different types of devices and software that with the choice and variety can also come inconsistency, confusion and wasted time.

The Mobile Workforce Adoption Trends study not only tells us how many people are depending on multiple devices, but also tells us which ones they prefer to use in certain situations. For example, the study shows that when at a work facility (that is not their desk) or at a client’s office (for example, a sales meeting), only 20% of workers like to use a computer, while 41% use a tablet and 46% use a smartphone. Similarly, when in a public place or coffee shop, only 11% of workers said they use a computer, while 39% used a tablet and 44% used a smartphone. While these preferences for a certain device or another are not exclusive (someone may use both their tablet and smartphone during a meeting), it’s relatively obvious that the mobile workforce does not like to lug their computers away from their desks.

Aside from laptops being clunky and heavier, tablets are more personal. When you put too many devices (or too large a device) between you and a client you risk forgetting why you’re there in the first place; to listen, discover what the client’s needs are, and find a solution for them. If you’re hiding behind a laptop it’s hard to feel connected with the client and the issues they are voicing, and that connection is extremely important for success in sales.

With salespeople’s preference for leaving computers at their desks, and the fact that smartphones are too small and limited in functionality to be used effectively in sales meetings, tablets have emerged as the perfect tool for these meetings. They are just the right combination of size, capability and sleek presentation that your company needs. However, it isn’t all about the kind of device being used, but about how it is being used. If you just handed over a tablet to everyone on your sales team and let them download their own applications and materials, you would still end up with inconsistent presentations and time wasted on finding what they need.

Value of Time Devoted to Selling

It’s important to remember the value of time and how much potential revenue is lost when a salesperson’s tools don’t make selling faster and easier. According to a study conducted by Pace Productivity on How Sales Reps Spend Their Time, when surveyed, participants said that they spent around 41% of their week actively selling. However, when they actually tracked their activities it was found that the average salesperson only spent 22% of their time selling and spent a total of 31% of their time on administrative and planning tasks, something they only thought 10% of their time was going towards. While administrative tasks and planning are an important part of the sales process, time spent on these tasks is time that isn’t being actively spent on making a sale.

Just think about how much more revenue your salespeople could be generating if you provided them with the tools to cut down on administrative tasks, allowing for more time to sell and interact with customers.

In order to make sure your sales team is presenting a unified brand, it’s necessary to provide them with the tools to do so, through the use of their preferred devices, applications and presentation information. If your entire sales team is out in the field with the same device, loaded with the same applications, and given the same information through those applications, you’re less likely to have discrepancies between individuals and will spend less time correcting inaccurate information given to clients.

This is where an application like Allego comes into play; by allowing your salespeople access to all of the same sales training content, product information, best practices information and sales material in one place, right at their fingertips. This not only provides a more consistent sales process from rep to rep, but also reduces the amount of time and energy each person spends on administrative tasks that distract from selling. With Allego’s just-in-time sales learning platform, your reps can be refreshed on markets, products, tips and FAQs as they head into a meeting and right from their iPads or phones.

Based on workers’ preference for smaller, faster devices in meetings and the amount of time that could be redirected to sales activities with the right tools and applications, it should be no surprise that sales teams using Allego are seeing impressive results.  Not to mention the power of knowledge and experience in the sales process; something that Allego allows sales managers to share with their salespeople in an efficient and highly applicable way through real-time coaching. So leave your laptop at home (or at the office), because everything you need is right at your fingertips.