Between 2013 and 2019 global smartphone traffic will have increased tenfold; that’s an extraordinary figure. Not only do more people have smartphones, but usage is rocketing too (see the infographic below).

This increase is largely due to the improved capabilities of smartphones. Smartphones can do more than ever before; experiences are becoming crisper, more engaging, and easier. In short, people are being drawn to their phones more and more. A cursory look around the street, restaurant or next bus you’re on will attest to this.

Whilst consumers reap the benefits of the capabilities of their smartphones, businesses across the globe are slow to catch up. Of course, mobile phones are used in business, but predominantly for specific functions – email being number one. Making presentations, writing reports, and working with data is still mainly seen as an activity for a PC; the emergence of mobile CRM has changed the landscape of how business people work ‘on the move’.

Mobile CRM is the future

Mobile CRM is becoming less of an extra feature and more of a fundamental role in the toolbox of successful sales reps. Research by Innoppl Technologies concluded that 65% of reps who have adopted mobile CRM hit targets and this drops to 22% for those that haven’t.

There are many ways mobile CRM improves sales performance. Let’s take a look at three critical areas:

1. Improve the data you capture
2. Improve preparations
3. Increase usage

1. Improve the data you capture

Sales reps are attending a lot of meetings. Especially those in the field who are hustling from meeting to meeting. This means that follow up is often left to the end of the day or, at best, lunchtime. Any sales rep will say that meetings can easily merge together and key information can be lost.

By deploying a simple to use mobile CRM, sales reps can update their notes in between meetings. Adding notes straight after a meeting is proven to improve detail, follow up quality, and sales. A strong contact management feature will enable your salespeople to keep track of all communications with their prospects and enable better visibility in tracking their customer relationships.

Mobile CRM sets your salespeople up for success; automatically logging communications with a prospect, including emails and calls, as well as allowing updates ‘on the move’ so your contact’s information is always updated. Every piece of data captured is logged on your CRM, reducing the likelihood of contact management errors resulting in poor decision making.

2. Improve preparations

The best salespeople are prepared; they have a clear plan for each meeting and use critical information to their advantage. It helps to go into the meeting understanding the below:

• What is this prospect’s pain point?
• Who does this person need to convince?
• Who are their competitors?
• What did I promise last time we met?
• What product are they currently using?
• What character does the prospect have?

Your sales reps can input information in-between meetings, but they can also access it: mobile CRM gives sales reps access to key information on the move. Whether they are sitting in a meeting room or waiting for a prospect on the train between meetings, being able to access little key snippets of data is crucial in optimizing meetings.

Using lead management allows your sales rep to plan activities ahead of time, as well as hone their sales strategy. A well built CRM organizes key aspects of the rep’s workflow, so they can focus on converting that lead into a sale, rather than the behind the scenes admin work.

3. Increase usage

Good sales reps are always thinking of an angle – and not just in office hours. Whether they’re in the shower or shopping, if they have an idea mobile CRM makes it easy for them to quickly and easily log it. If someone sits down at a desk, pulls out the laptop and logs on it feels very much like work, but two minutes in the mobile CRM is quick and doesn’t impinge as much on their day. Giving salespeople this level of access to key information is sure to make them use it more and resent it less.

To gain the benefits of a CRM, salespeople need to use it. If you can get sales reps engaged with data it’s proven to make them more effective: remember, 65% of reps that adapted to mobile CRM achieved their sales quotas. A key advantage of mobile CRM is that it provides your salespeople with a quick, easily accessible way to make use of their sales pipeline data, meaning they can take action when faced with new opportunities rather than wait until they’re back at the office.

The future of mobile CRM

The CRM market is set to grow and change and mobile will be a key part of that. Businesses are starting to realise the power of using mobile CRM so expect growth driven by:

• Smartphone capability
• Companies using cloud-based CRM
• Overall growth in the CRM market
• CRM vendors focusing more heavily on mobile

So when you’re building for CRM request for the proposal then make sure you include mobile CRM as one of your requirements.