Nine ways to use your mobile phone as a sales tool

There’s no need to put things on hold when you are away from your desk. Here are nine ways to improve your customer service and boost sales even when you are out of the office — using your mobile phone

1. Calendars and diaries
   Keep your appointments up to date and connect your phone to your office computer system so nothing slips through. Use alarms and reminders and keep your task list up to date to ensure you don’t forget anything.
2. Maps, route planning and GPS
   GPS technology in mobile phones mean you never need to get lost. GPS helps you to plan the most efficient route and can even be used to track deliveries.
3. Internet
   Having access to the internet when you are out of the office is invaluable. The latest phones allow you to do everything you do on your computer, you can do online research, create bookmarks, click on links in emails to open web pages and even set up RSS feeds.
4. Email
   By responding to emails quickly, you improve the service you offer and increase the chances of making sales. You can also email your office, warehouse or suppliers to ensure the needs of your clients are met promptly.
5. Social networks
   Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter are important communication tools. With a smart phone, you can add tweets, blogs and photos so that your networking is totally up to date.
6. CRM
   Contact details and customer profiles help you to access a fuller picture of your clients and prospects. The latest smart phones have CRM applications that can link to your system back at the office. You can track everything from orders, account information and pricing data to stock levels and deliveries. With this technology, you can deliver a more personal service to clients, improve targeting of prospects and boost productivity.
7. Access to documents
   Smart phones and PDAs allow you to store all the documents you need to help you make a sale. From word processing to spreadsheets, you can use your phone to hold the information you need and access it any time, any place. At the same time, you can connect many phones to computers to present or transfer documents. 
8. Conference calls
   If you can’t get all the key players together at the same time, use your phone to arrange conference calls. 
9. Synchronise your computer and your mobile phone
   Make sure your phone and computers can be connected to ensure you can transfer data such as appointments or business contact details from one to the other. Most phones can be connected to laptops and computers using a cable or Bluetooth.

More on this topic:

• Mobile and text marketing
• Smartphone applications for small businesses