Many companies are thinking about implementing digital transformation in their sales department. Others already have some sort of mobile solution, but it is expensive to maintain and does not have all the tools a sales app needs. Do you want to know which processes and features your sales application must have? Are you looking for an app for taking orders and don’t know where to begin? Keep reading!
There are a myriad of software options and means to obtain them. Some have many features that, while at first may seem useful, further down do not truly accommodate the needs of a sales team. Others fall short and do not offer optimal features. But there are also apps for salespersons that are capable of accommodating every type of client and offer a scalable and functional technology.
When our goal is to increase sales, the first thing to keep in mind when choosing any order management app is that it should be developed by a professional team that has the necessary know-how and experience in the industry and offers the highest guarantees when it comes to safety and adaptability, especially when accomplishing a proper integration between the app and the company’s current ERP. In short, the application should be reliable, useful and adaptable, since this being the case, results will start to be noticeable since the first year of use and implementation.
During our search process, once we have a set of candidates, it is the time to select the order management program that our sales team will include in their day to day. If would be ideal for this sales app to also be useful to our marketing department and executive teams. That it is capable of analyzing and displaying data in a fast and strategic manner, with the purpose of facilitating decision making. With this in mind, there are a series of characteristics it should have.
Ten features a sales app should have
- Usability and versatility
The application should be intuitive and simple to use, versatile and scalable, to facilitate its adoption by the entire team. Only in this way will you be able to get the most out of it, and have all agents use it correctly.
In addition, it should be interactive and offer the client an optimal performance to convey a great brand image and provide the highest possible amount of data (where the prospective customer clicked, which pictures were best liked, which advertisements worked best…).
On the other hand, it should be cross-platform and multi-language, capable of being deployed on all kinds of operating systems to guarantee their proper operation on any device owned by the company.
Lastly, the app should be able to be used offline. Your salespersons often encounter 3G signal issues. Avoid hanging them out to dry due to service problems.
- Geolocation
Every sales app should make a proper use of this feature. Not only to geolocate the salesperson, but also to optimize sales routes and offer onsite report geolocation, registering the place (latitude-longitude position), time, customer, type of action and report contents.
This feature also facilitates the analysis of reports at the central office, and ensures access to the management of customers and products anytime, anywhere.
- Analytics and statistics dashboard
Having an Advanced Statistics Dashboard that facilitates data analysis and is customizable. Tools such as inaCátalog include:
- Sales KPIs for per agent, company, customer, catalog and period
- Sales TOPS per agent, company, customer, catalog and period
- Overall sales graph per agent, company, product, customer, customer-product, catalog and period
- Sales performance per agent, company, product, customer, customer-product, catalog and period.
- Personalization
The sales app should have a set of designs and a structure that facilitates the addition of products and items to each personalized catalog, as well as offer the personalization of certain aspects of the platform (login image, language, login video, order printout, possibility to add additional information, etc.).
- Integration
A tool that has this feature will offer key data regarding customer behavior and will allow their needs to be predicted. A sales app such as inaCátalog displays key information for each customer, allows goals to be pinpointed and streamlines customer management.
- On and offline synchronization
Not only is it a necessary feature for any app in order to accomplish efficient sales, but it is also one of the mobile CRM software trends. Getting disconnected from our database in the middle of a visit will hinder the successful closure of a sale. Therefore, having an application that is capable of working offline and online will prevent any loss of information.
- Autonomy
The software should make it easy for all of our sales personnel to access all information about a customer with just one click. In order to provide autonomy to the sales force, the application should have a local data exchange service or back office – Mobility Server in inaCátalog –, client synchronization with each device’s contact list, and an unlimited number of clients and products in their databases.
- Customization
This feature should be related to several aspects. First, the sales app should be flexible and customizable to the corporate image – this is what we know as the Look&Feel setup in inaCátalog. Second, it should be able to customize certain features or create them from scratch depending on the specifics of each customer. Lastly, it should provide a connection to any ERP in order to achieve an automated integration, with the resulting savings in management times, since no piece of data will have to be entered manually.
- Omnichannel
Omnichannel mobility solutions are particularly useful in trade shows, events and showrooms, where they make it easy to have customer data and contact information on all devices, and a centralized printing service that is compatible with any printer, while guaranteeing data safety.
- Security
Of course, the data we have will need to be safeguarded. Security is paramount in a sales app, since we have a lot of information about customers and other confidential data. In any case, in order to guarantee security, inaCátalog includes a long list of features. Among them, we can find:
- Automatic software updates
- Application information protected against device failures and more extreme events.
- Encryption.
- Program disabling and remote supervision.
- Protected access.
- Send prices and catalogs filtered per agent
- Data fee protection.
- Tools for incident resolution.
- Recovery system.
Why should I adopt a sales app?
As we have seen, an order management program provides a set of features that, in addition to making our sales force’s day to day easier, can offer an excellent sales process management.
Technology and mobility are two powerful elements offered by inaCátalog that help optimize your salespersons’ performance, and aids in accomplishing business goals. Why? Because it adapts to the needs of the sales team; allows products to be showcased; orders to be taken and stored; onsite reports to be made; the brand to be strengthened; and allows sales, customers and the sales team to be managed. All of this using one same tool that is much more than a sales app.
Do you want to know more about how business intelligence can benefit your business? Download inaCátalog’s success story in the pharmaceutical sector and find out, based on its results, why this is the perfect tool for your sales force.
