If you’ve received an email sent from my iPhone, you may have noticed my mobile signature, which includes the phrase “Sent from my pocket Super Computer.” If you’ve ever been in my office, you may have noticed there’s not a single piece of paper around, except for a few 3×5” note cards (which are only to be used in case of emergencies). I am constantly on the move! To me, the idea of being tied to a laptop – or writing paper notes – is about as outdated as Blockbuster. In my position, my data, my work and my thoughts have to be instantly, and always, available.
Thanks to my experience working with the truly innovative companies, I know that 90%+ of business functions can be completed with mobile technology. Successful modern companies and entrepreneurs are embracing mobile solutions, and, more importantly, so are their clients.
These days, managing a business is easier than ever thanks to a slew of mobile business management innovations. In fact, sophisticated mobile apps, IoT, cloud platforms and other tools have made it possible to run a business from your phone in almost all cases. And if you are not – your competitors are!
Conducting your business in the cloud offers flexibility for yourself, your employees, and your clients, as they can access performance metrics and messages on their phones. Using your phone as your primary business tool also streamlines workflow operations since every element of your business is in the palm of your hands. Plus, automating a large chunk of the work your sales team is responsible for will reduce your company’s error margins and increase your ROI. There really are no limits to how high your business can soar when you shift your work tasks to an entirely digital operation.
Field Sales Automation
One benefit of a completely mobile operation is that you can create a dashboard that lists individual sales goals and activities. Going mobile allows you to connect clients directly to your sales reps and check performance metrics through intuitive, cloud-based dashboards.
Here are some ways to automate field sales processes using mobile tools:
- Artificial Intelligence and Big Data: The combination of artificial intelligence and big data allows you to better plan sales goals and activities while paving the way to making actionable decisions based on this data. These technologies establish smart algorithms that make predictions about revenue and user base through analytical tools that leverage data from previous campaigns.
- Sales Metrics: Speaking of data, monitoring sales metrics can be done entirely through your phone. Your team gathers essential sales metrics, which can then be sent to your data analytics team and then to your dashboard. Finally, this data can be used to give informed directions to your team and improve your business strategy.
- Gamification: Gamification—the implementation of game playing in marketing and the professional world to motivate workers and users—is becoming an essential element of companies’ sales tactics. After all, offering periodic awards helps motivate workers to do their very best.
- Worker and User Engagement: Business mobile apps use leaderboards, statistics and contests, allowing sales reps to motivate each other through friendly competition while also identifying areas of weakness. These tools increase brand and product engagement within your team and create a sense of unity.
- Image Recognition: Mobile devices open the door to a variety of advanced technologies, such as image recognition for retail. This technology works with itinerary management by taking images of a particular shelf and using automation to make sure items are properly stocked.
- Augmented Reality: Some businesses are using augmented reality (AR) to show customers what an item will look like in their home, thus making it easier for customers to make a decision and easier for workers to make a sale.
All in all, advanced technologies can streamline your company’s tasks from top to bottom. Going mobile enables you to make more informed decisions about your sales tactics while giving customers a more interactive experience.
Sales Management
Another essential element of running a business from your phone is adequately managing your sales team, including measuring individual performance metrics and creating clear communication channels. The sales plan should be focused and detailed, as well as including resources available to workers and any sales activities you’d like to implement.
All this information should be available via an enterprise mobile app that employees can easily access on their devices. This way, you can communicate with your workers directly – offering advice, answering questions and creating a unified sales front. At the same time, you can monitor their performance and ensure expectations are being met.
There are various sales apps you can draw inspiration from when developing your own solution. For example, the app we built for the PHP Agency is geared towards fostering collaboration within the business and organizing sales tools for employees. It allows workers to share their wisdom, experiences, and accomplishments with each other in order to bolster overall team performance and morale.
The PHP app has various features you could add to your sales app, including reports of track completion rates with gamification incentives, push notifications, and intelligent search and Q&A features. The app allows you to transmit information in a variety of ways through a mobile device, which is useful because workers can receive updates in real time without having to check their email.
Apps like this one can be integrated with other solutions in order to create a mobile platform that allows your business to connect sales goals, individual performance metrics, sales content and communication channels across your team. Remember, a mobile-run business is only as effective as the ambition of your workers, the data available to them and the directions the sales managers give them.
Executive Management
Easy access to sales performance metrics is key to the success of any business. As such, all key performance indicators (KPIs) should be readily available to your executive team through their mobile devices, and executives need to be trained to understand which KPIs matter most. While raw revenue matters too, it’s important to break down your revenue in a number of valuable KPIs, including:
- Monthly or quarterly percentage of new customers.
- Percentage of your customers that are renewing subscriptions with your business.
- Percentage of your team that is reaching their sales quotas.
- Average deal size.
- Customer conversion rate (what percentage of your leads are becoming actual customers).
All these KPIs can be gathered in real-time with a well-ironed dashboard that uses data analytics to help you measure individual and overall sales performances within your team. In order to make the most of these metrics, consider implementing predictive analytics (PA) tools that will help you more accurately predict how well your sales techniques will perform.
Going mobile means your executive team will have all these tools available in the palm of their hands. Just be sure your dashboards and messaging tools are created in a clear, intuitive manner that communicates data in real-time, eliminating the need for your workers to log into a computer to get a message.
HR and Marketing
Having effective human resources and marketing tools are as important to any business as having skilled workers. The key is to create a platform that collects all HR and marketing tools in one place, allowing employees to access this information from their mobile devices with the tap of a finger. Unifying these tools into a single portal leads to higher productivity, especially if you add push notifications that easily inform workers of new HR and marketing techniques.
When it comes to marketing, there is a growing need for personalization, as making customers feel appreciated is helpful if you’re hoping to reel them in and retain them. The same is true for the HR employee experience, as you can use mobile solutions to create personalized interactions with your employees. This leads to higher engagement, improved employee satisfaction rates and an increased retention rate. Including multiple contact information forms on your app, as well as an FAQ section, helps achieve this goal.
For instance, the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group has found success with personalized HR tools. Their app allows employees to personalize their work experience by managing their schedule, benefits, vacation days, sick days and maternity or paternity leave using their phones.
Creating personalized tools that are tailored to your company’s needs increases both customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction. And happier, more motivated workers produce higher quality work, which could ultimately bolster your bottom line.
Operations and R&D
If you want to grow your business, you will need a research and development (R&D) team that is on the cutting-edge of your industry. By using the right mobile solutions, you can create clear communication channels between your R&D and the rest of your team, ensuring everyone knows what is on the horizon for your company. You’ll need an R&D platform that considers pipeline innovation, new product and service management and workflow automation tools. All this information should be accessible via the cloud, thus ensuring the data is both portable and secure.
Being able to manage your R&D ventures digitally requires a strategy that schedules when your new products, services and tools will be developed, as well as a messaging platform that lets you easily communicate with your R&D team. Plus, being able to shift your ideas in real-time to suit budding trends is less of a hassle when you’re running your business from your phone.
Yes, You Can Run a Business From Your Phone
There is a lot that goes into developing a successful strategy for a mobile-run business. It requires a focused sales plan, well-trained workers, and motivational tools that inspire them to improve performance. The backbone of a profitable business that is run from your phone consists of convenience, remote access to work files, a dashboard that measures KPIs, messaging tools and push notifications. By combining all these tools, you will set your team up for success, increasing the chances of reaching your revenue and profit goals.
If you’re hoping to develop platforms and mobile apps that allow you to run your business entirely from your phone, you will need to work with a skilled development team. Here at 7T, we specialize in custom mobile app development, cloud integrations, and digital transformation. In addition, we are more than capable of providing services related to a range of cutting-edge technologies, including augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, and natural language processing.
7T is based in Dallas, but we also serve clients in Austin, Houston, and beyond. To discuss your project, please contact us today.
