Optimize Your B2B Sales Process with Mobile Technology

Equipping B2B sales teams with mobile technology can increase the efficiency of sales teams by eliminating common offline delays, arming reps with customer data in the field, and enabling paperless order capture on any device.

In this article, we discuss the inefficiencies that mobility solves and how the adoption of these solutions that rely on mobile devices can be used to optimize the internal processes of companies and enhance B2B sales.

B2B Sales Process Limitations and Typical Complaints

Despite enterprise digitization, sales teams often face recurring offline barriers during customer meetings that limit their ability to process key data to deliver valuable information to customers in real time that may be crucial to close a deal.

Here are some of the challenges that field sales reps typically have to deal with and that mobile solutions could provide a solution for.

Multitasking Challenges

Sales reps struggle when taking detailed orders accurately while simultaneously negotiating contracts, demoing products, conveying specifics verbally across multiple decision makers, and keeping stakeholders engaged.

Time-Consuming Administrative Work

Going through their notes after finishing meetings to submit system orders and then manually sharing this information for fulfillment coordination delays downstream processing and increases the odds of making mistakes.

Meanwhile, remembering and constructing quotes from scratch often requires intensive offline cross-department alignment and could result in inaccurate information sent to either customers or internal users that could lead to wrong invoicing or proposal details.

4 Benefits of Mobile Sales Enablement

Mobile order taking, integrated data, and quoting applications can help sales teams minimize recurring bottlenecks. Here’s an overview of the key benefits that mobility brings to the table for field sales reps.

#1 - Mobile Order Taking to Expedite Purchases

Transactional apps allow reps to swiftly enter purchase details linked to order management systems so orders are automatically submitted. This includes the ability to capture the buyer’s signature during their interactions for near-instant approval and fulfillment.

#2 - Real-Time Customer Data Access

Consolidating previously siloed data sources like call history, inventory levels, open service tickets, or usage trends into mobile-enabled CRM systems empowers smarter in-person discussions and more efficient account management.

B2B customers value sales reps’ ability to anticipate their needs and provide unique insights regarding their shopping habits, patterns, and preferences. This level of customization can increase sales and provide support to reps by strengthening their pitch.

#3- Instant and Accurate Proposal Generation

Rapidly generate polished and accurate quotes encompassing customized products, quantities, and bundles along with the possibility of processing payment on site right after receiving the customer’s approval and without leaving the premises.

This can reduce the length of the decision-making process by eliminating unnecessary wait times.

#4 - Automated CRM Syncing

Mobile-enabled CRM systems eliminate the need for manual reporting. This reduces delays and increases the accuracy of order details and other similar data. Customer data inputs are uploaded instantly and updated in real time on the company’s server to ensure that orders are processed as fast as possible by the corresponding department.

What to Look for in a Mobile-Enabled B2B Sales Software?

Beyond offline productivity, mobile device usability, security, and omni-channel alignment, these are some of the key characteristics that companies should look for in a B2B sales software that supports mobile devices.

Intuitive Order Capture Workflows

Look for guided selling catalogs, product configuration support, pre-loaded account/billing shortcuts, photo/signature capture features, and smart order summaries facilitating mobile data entry.

Templates can save a considerable amount of time for both the IT and sales teams by allowing the company to rapidly implement the mobile solution to its internal sales processes without having to conceive and draft forms and workflows from scratch.

Air-Tight Security Standards

Review mobile app and data security provisions including identity management, remote wipe and device neutralization features, robust portal authentication methods, and encryption protocols that help the company protect customer data and make sure that only reps are allowed to access its systems.

Seamless System Integrations

Assess backend connectivity simplicity to facilitate seamless cross-system data flows between mobile tools, order management, payments, ERPs, and CRM systems to enable seamless data synchronization.

Offline Support Reliability

Architectures allowing productive mobile usage regardless of connectivity coverage – i.e. local data capture auto-syncing upon network reconnections – provide fail-proof reliability for remote field teams.

Recommendations to Implement Mobile-Enabled B2B Sales Systems

Adopting mobile solutions to further support field sales reps requires a considerable investment. However, the benefits typically outweigh the costs. To drive user adoption, it is important to convince both top executives and sales personnel regarding the advantages of using this technology.

• Executive Sponsorship: Educate the leadership team on the tangible benefits of mobile-enabled order-taking software including increased upselling and cross-selling, revenue growth, lower administrative costs, and softer benefits like improved buyer experience and differentiation.
• Ongoing Training: Create programs and courses that help sales reps make the most out of these solutions. They primarily benefit from higher commissions resulting from being able to access insightful data about customers and streamlining sales. Create incentives that reward them for using the applications and showcase positive case studies about how certain reps have improved their performance by relying on the solution.

Conclusion

As modern B2B buyers and sellers needs evolve, sales tools and access to data that is not limited by physical limitations can unlock previously unseen team productivity levels and revenue growth by offering a unique approach and access to valuable data during field sales meetings.