1. Selling More with
Mobile Solutions
Building the right strategy,
innovation agenda and sales
representative experience
2. As consumer behaviors and preferences dictate enterprise technology
trends in unprecedented fashion, companies of all shapes and sizes are
struggling with how to effectively enable their sales teams with mobile
solutions. The challenges that must be overcome by sales leaders and CIOs
alike are threefold: defining a proactive strategy before it is defined by
sales representative behavior, continuously innovating by exploiting the
newest capabilities of mobile technology, and committing to developing
a distinctive sales representative and customer experience. The key to
addressing these challenges lies in taking a disciplined approach to mobility.
The upside for capitalizing on this opportunity is significant.
Page 2 | Selling More with Mobile Solutions
4. The explosion of mobile devices, Fueling the behavior is the rate measurable business value. Simply
the increasingly improving wireless at which mobile and cloud-based transitioning standard sales force
network capabilities, and the CRM technologies are evolving. automation functionality to mobile
adoption of cloud technologies With smart phones getting smarter, devices underutilizes the technology
in the enterprise have resulted in tablets becoming ubiquitous and and by-passes the real potential
easy-to-provision and easy-to-use CRM vendors releasing quarterly of mobility. For every basic sales
mobile sales tools. In organizations enhancements, there is an insatiable automation capability—account
everywhere, sales professionals demand for new and improved management, contact management,
are writing the mobile strategy, by capabilities. The ‘shiny object pipeline management, activity
self-selecting sales tools onto their syndrome’ of mobility is here to stay, management and forecasting—
company-owned and personal mobile at least for the foreseeable future. successful mobile solutions can help
devices. While well intentioned, High performing organizations will improve the workflow of the sales
these sales representatives are need to show sales representatives professional.
often making decisions based on a committed path to mobility
The opportunity for the organizations
personal preference, without regard improvements to quell the demand—
that effectively capitalize on this
for company security, data rights, and they will need to keep their
growing trend is important. High
process consistency and total cost promise. At the same time, these
performing organizations will use
of ownership. High performing organizations will need to create
mobility to increase deal size,
organizations will need to move a deliberate and well-planned
decrease sales cycle timelines and
quickly in defining a strategy that approach that exploits the newest
profitably improve sales activity.
keeps pace with these trends. innovations in mobility to solve
Additional benefits will include sales
pressing business challenges.
representative satisfaction and
Perhaps the most important reduced attrition, improved customer
challenge to overcome with mobile experience, and unprecedented
sales solutions is the development transparency, traceability and
of a distinctive experience for both predictability for company executives.
the sales representative and the
customer that can be proven by
Page 4 | Selling More with Mobile Solutions
6. The Mobile-Enabled Sales Professional
is the “New Normal”
Recognizing employee preference As further substantiation, according to
for mobile devices, organizations are the CSO Insights 2012 Sales Performance
exploring initiatives using smart phones, Optimization Study, which is sponsored by
and increasingly tablets, to achieve core Accenture, 97 percent of firms are actively
objectives such as improving productivity using or starting to use tablet devices in
or mobile-enabling sales representatives. their sales organization.2 (See Figure 1.) This
The introduction of the Apple iPad in 2010 number has increased significantly since
further spurred this activity, adding to the only one year ago, when only 45 percent
question about how tablet devices would of survey respondents had provided their
be used for business transactions. Now sales forces with mobile-enabled sales
the answer is emerging: tablets are quickly capabilities.3 However, nearly half of the
becoming the de-facto enablement device organizations surveyed in 2012 do not
for mobile workforces. Gartner corroborates yet have a formal program around tablet
this by predicting that by 2014 as many usage.4 (See Figure 1.)
as 20 percent of sales organizations will
consider tablets to be the primary mobile
platform for their sales forces.1
Figure 1: Sales forces are using tablets more frequently but without defined policies.
What percentage of your sales force is Which of the following statements best
currently using tablet devices to support describes your company’s policy towards
their sales activities? tablet device usage in sales?
Do not know
3.1%
>75%
We have
12.5% <10%
51-75% no program
9.4% 31.3% 22.6% Formal
program
We are 41.9%
26-50%
12.5% starting a
10-25% program
31.3% 25.8%
Informal program
9.7.9%
Source: CSO Insights 2012
Page 6 | Selling More with Mobile Solutions
7. Innovations in Sales— Locating nearby opportunities capabilities to deliver content.
Exploiting the ‘Cutting A leading telecommunications For example, the instant-
company is taking advantage on capabilities of the Apple
Edge’ of Mobility
of location-based services on iPad make it easier for sales
Improved representative Apple iPads to show nearby representatives to launch quickly
effectiveness opportunities and unclaimed into customer presentations.
One leading company is leads. With this information in In addition, tablets can deliver
considering leveraging location- hand, representatives can take rich, interactive media based on
based services to notify sales advantage of downtime between customers’ preferences as they
representative when they are near sales calls to prospect qualified select content that is directly
an account where they owe a leads that are in close proximity. relevant to them. This might
follow up. Driving more timely and include collaboratively building a
Remote presence customer’s quote or proposal in
consistent follow through can lift
the performance of the sales teams, Several high-tech companies real time, or viewing a customer’s
increase customer satisfaction and are exploiting the connectivity order history to answer questions
help to improve sales. and rich media capabilities of during the meeting.
tablets by implementing live video
New levels of flexibility conferencing to enable their sales Real-time order placement
A leading global pharmaceutical representatives to bring remote An organization is enhancing
company is redesigning its subject matter specialists directly the use of its existing enterprise
traditional sales tools for tablet into the customer conversation. systems by building a front-facing
devices to create new levels of In this case, mobility is making ordering application for the Apple
role and geographic flexibility. it possible for the sales iPad. The application leverages
By disaggregating the individual representative to deliver answers the 24x7 connectivity of tablets
functions into smaller, bite-sized at the point of need and minimize and allows sales representatives
functions, the company can use one follow-up work. to place a customer order
common sales force automation immediately after making the
Richer customer dialogue sale. This makes it possible for the
platform to deploy different
combinations of sales force A number of companies are organization to realize revenue
tools to different types of sales exploring ways to make sales more quickly and allows the sales
representatives across the globe. representatives’ conversations representative to confirm orders
more interactive and engaging with customers on the spot.
by using a tablet’s touch screen
Page 7
8. Rising to the Challenge
Mobile devices will be a part of a long-term Figure 2: The introduction of tablets is changing computing behavior.
sales enablement strategy. To effectively
enable sales team with mobile solutions, An example:
sales leaders and their technology partners
have their work cut out for them.
Define a proactive strategy
4.2 hrs./day
to meet the opportunity, 3.5 hrs./day
and equally the challenge, of
quick user adoption
How do companies balance strategy with
speed? In the past, organizations deploying Laptop Smartphone Laptop Tablet Smartphone
new, application-centric technologies
to the sales team typically have been
challenged with mediocre user adoption. Device Sessions Duration Device Sessions Duration
Tablets, however, with their unique user- Laptop 7 24.0 minutes Laptop 4 36.0 minutes
friendly nature, are bucking this trend; the Smartphone 26 1.5 minutes Tablet 12 7.0 minutes
hardware is promoting adoption of once-
Smartphone 19 1.2 minutes
scorned CRM software, and altering how
sales representatives divide their work time.
As reported by mobiles sales force workers.
As shown in Figure 2, a Gartner study of a
large sales force found that representatives
were spending 20 percent more computing Source: Gartner, June 2011
time per day when they used a tablet, a
smart phone and a laptop, as opposed to a
smart phone and laptop alone, to execute
the same or similar activities.5
This preference for tablets bodes well for However, the rapid pace of adoption
organizations, giving them the opportunity also poses a challenge for sales and
to drive higher sales process and sales operations leaders. According to
methodology adoption rates for sales forces recent research by Morgan Stanley, sales
deploying mobile sales force automation. representatives are increasingly using their
Higher adoption of these tools can result own tablets to access sales tools, store
in more consistent sales processes, customer and account information, and
increased sales productivity, and improved manage sales activities—and it is happening
predictability and management insights. quickly.6 (See Figure 3.) In many cases, sales
These are the potential benefits that sales organizations do not have line of sight or
tools should drive, but today often fail to control of this activity. Instead, sales teams
do so given low user adoption. are defining the mobility strategy organically.
Page 8 | Selling More with Mobile Solutions
9. Figure 3: The number of employee-owned tablets used in the enterprise doubled in
one year.
CIOs Surveyed on Tablet Usage
An example:
33% 16% 51%
71% 8% 21%
Not Allowed Employee-owned Purchased for employees
Source: Morgan Stanley, 2011
Without an intentional and well-planned • With customer data being accessed and and connected in emerging markets?
strategy, this ‘Wild West’ approach to stored on mobile devices at the edge What happens when a sales representative
mobile device usage can create issues for of the network, information security leaves the company? How do organizations
both the sales and technology teams to issues can put organizations at risk if deliver a consistent experience to
overcome. These issues include: unsecured devices are lost, stolen or used representatives, regardless of their chosen
improperly—giving rise to possible legal device? Should companies standardize
• Adoption rates for the sales tools might and other risks. on a single platform or allow many? High
climb, but utilization of important performing organizations have answered
aspects such as activity management To help mitigate these potential risks, sales
organizations should take control of their these questions as part of an enterprise
may plummet, with sales representatives mobile technology strategy, collaborating
capturing and managing their activities, mobile strategy by defining a deliberate
plan, and working closely with technology with sales leadership and CIOs to lead to a
follow-up, and notes on their independent successful path forward.
smart phone or tablet applications. and information security counterparts.
These risks are possible to overcome
• With the availability and ease of
and should promote, rather than stifle,
installation of small, independent mobile
innovation. Additional device questions
sales applications, representatives may
to answer include: Who will own the
even download other sales productivity
device—the organization or the individual
tools, creating an uncontrolled plethora
sales representative? How can companies
of tools being used by representatives
verify mobile devices are both accessible
across the organization.
Page 9
10. Continuous innovation Figure 4: CRM implementations do not always deliver desired results.
defines the winners What measurable improvements in performance are you seeing as a result of
The rate at which tablet devices, cloud implementing your CRM system?
computing and social media are evolving
represents a new paradigm. In response, Improved Sales Rep/Manager Communications 57.4%
high performers commit and undertake an
agenda of continuous improvement, and opt Improved Forecast Accuracy 47.1%
for speed and agility over completeness and
Reduced Administrative Burden on Sales 35.3%
perfection. The best companies recognize
that technology is stale almost from the
Reduced New Sales Rep Ramp-up Time 22.8%
moment it is launched, and that sales
representatives’ behaviors are changing at Improved Support of Channels 19.9%
an unprecedented pace. These organizations
choose to embrace the challenge and focus Improved Best Practices Sharing 19.1%
on a promise of ongoing, rapid innovation.
(See sidebar entitled “Innovations in Sales— Improved Order Processing Accuracy 17.6%
Exploiting the Cutting Edge of Mobility” for
examples of how companies are pursuing Improved Win Rates 16.9%
mobility sales solutions.)
Other 15.4%
Organizations can help enable this new
approach to sales by maintaining a Increased Revenues 15.4%
relentless focus on what is new about
mobility for today, and by staying ahead Shortened Sell Cycles 11.8%
of the curve for what the future holds. Key
aspects of this innovation agenda include: Increased Margins 3.7%
Bring innovation for today Source: CSO Insights 2012
It would be unproductive for organizations
to simply re-enable sales representatives
with current sales force automation
than 15 percent responded that these Continue innovation for tomorrow
functionality and stop there, but it is
implementations resulted in increased There are many new capabilities on the
tempting for companies to do this by
revenues.7 (See Figure 4.) horizon for mobility that will continue to
piloting mobile devices without exploiting
drive change in how sales organizations will
any of the leading-edge features that Investing in re-enabling sales force
use mobile tools. For example, near-field
mobility has to offer. These efforts fall functionality on a tablet device can
communications will allow mobile devices
short of expected return on investment, be exciting and is often justified with
to physically pass information between each
while burdening the sales force with softer benefits such as convenience,
other. In the future, consumers may see an
additional tasks and unwieldy tools that do connectedness and portability. However,
advertisement for a product and touch it
not drive results. mobility technology brings some truly
with their phone, generating a real-time,
new capabilities such as location-based
Case in point, implementing new CRM tools ‘hot’ lead sent immediately to the nearest
services, 24x7 connectivity, richer and
was a top priority initiative for more than sales representative based on the location as
more interactive media presentation, and
40 percent of chief sales officers surveyed determined by their mobile device.
emerging technologies like QR codes and
for CSO Insights 2012. Unfortunately,
near-field communications. High performing
only 17 percent of respondents indicated
companies will figure out ways to exploit
that previous CRM implementations had
these capabilities in order to solve their most
improved win rates and only slightly more
important business challenges.
Page 10 | Selling More with Mobile Solutions
11. Why Sales Representatives • The site is unattractive and
Typically Hate their Sales requires a manual to get started.
Tools • The software is generic and
requires a work-around to do
More often than not, sales the specific things we would
representatives consider their really like to do.8
sales force automation tools These adoption issues run
to be a burden. Why? Business parallel to the reasons why sales
author and thought leader Tammy representatives often do not
Erickson has some possible like to use sales tools built by
answers in her Harvard Business the sales organization. When
Review post that examines why implementing mobile sales tools,
organizations may fail to get organizations can avoid these
employees to adopt social media pitfalls by providing value directly
tools: to sales representatives at every
• “Often we are instructed to interaction with the sales tool.
use it by someone in authority,
rather than invited by friends.
• Little of what we actually get
paid to do (or believe we get
paid to do) requires information
or input from the vast majority
of other people on the network.
• Participation feels like dropping
pearls into a black hole. There
is often no sense of getting
something in return for sharing
an idea or suggestion.
• We have no control over who
sees our information and little
idea what ‘they’ are doing with it.
Page 11
12. These kinds of innovations will drive Unfortunately, this approach has a The rich media and real-time connectivity
appreciable new opportunities for sales downside: low adoption of the CRM tools capabilities of mobile devices help sales
organizations. Leading organizations will by the sales force, as they see these representatives to use the mobile device
not only exploit what is new about mobility tools as only data capture avenues for as the facilitator to the conversation.
now, but will also build a culture and process management. (See sidebar entitled “Why Representatives can use a tablet together
that encourages continuous and iterative Sales Representatives Typically Hate their with the customer to configure solutions
innovation as the technology develops. Sales Tools.”) To reduce this risk, some in real time, review pricing options
companies have made sales representative and capture signatures to close deals.
adoption metrics part of the performance In addition, they can leverage video
Commit to a distinctive, management process. However, using the technology to include remote participants
value-led experience ‘stick instead of the carrot’ typically has who may offer specific experience.
To help improve sales effectiveness through failed to yield the benefit sought by either And with a constant connection to
mobility, sales organizations need to the organization or an individual sales the underlying CRM systems, sales
focus on creating a unique and productive representative. representatives can also answer questions
experience for sales representatives that about cases or order status in real time.
High performing organizations will take
directly improves their workflow, while also
a different route and focus on how their For the broader sales organization, an
adding value to the customer dialogue and
mobile sales force automation tools Internet-connected mobile device can
interaction. Developing this distinctive,
can provide direct value to the sales instantly aggregate data across multiple
value-led experience for both sides can
representatives themselves. For every input sales conversations to help companies
result in immediate and long-term payoffs
sales representatives are asked to provide, identify best practices, refine sales
as companies will be able to sell more
they should get a useful and tangible processes and methodologies, or review
profitably in a shorter amount of time.
output from the sales tool. For example, if marketing content and overall go-to-
Achieving this dual purpose with mobility
recording a follow-up task for a customer market strategies. Organizations can also
requires sales executives to:
enabled the mobile device to alert a collect voice-of-the-customer data from
representative when near an account with how the customer is actually interacting
Ensure sales tools provide clear value an overdue task, the representative would with the sales representative and the
directly to the sales representative be more likely to use the task functionality. mobile device, rather than gathering it
Many organizations have deployed CRM Providing this distinctive sales representative anecdotally from the sales representative.
solutions with the intent to collect experience is an important piece of an
information from the sales tools, and effective mobility sales program.
provide business insight to executive-
level management and headquarter Enrich the customer experience
processes. Information collected from the
We often hear that sales representatives
sales force is often used to drive more
can be accused of talking too much, and
accurate pipelines and forecasting, provide
not spending enough time understanding
better customer and offering insights
customer issues and business needs. An
for marketing, or round out activity and
interactive mobile platform can help the
performance management data.
sales representative follow a balanced
approach of assessing a customer’s needs,
and presenting the features and potential
benefits of an offering.
Page 12 | Selling More with Mobile Solutions
13. Take a Disciplined Approach to Mobility
Many organizations find themselves Integrate with current CRM
enamored with mobility. They want to
tools
try the ‘shiny new object’ and jump into
smart phone and tablet pilots, or full If new mobile tools are deployed to
implementations, without adequately the sales force without investing in
defining the purpose and proceeding with integration with current CRM tools, the
discipline to deliver value. sales representative experience will fail to
meet expectations. This lack of integration
Focusing on the following success factors can result in lower mobile tool utilization,
to plan and implement a mobility strategy which will limit the value gained and set
will help organizations to successfully a perception among the sales force that
deliver a distinctive experience with can be difficult to overcome in subsequent
tangible business value: efforts.
Ensuring that mobile tools fit into a
Enable process with seamless sales representative experience
technology to help achieve is critical to the potential success of any
strategic objectives mobile sales enablement initiative expected
to deliver tangible outcomes. To do this,
As Gary W. Loveman of the Harvard
organizations will need to understand the
Business School aptly observed: “Gains
mobile strategy and roadmap of the sales
come not because of technology, but
force automation vendor that will be used.
because it supports breakthrough ideas
In some cases, an off-the-shelf solution will
in business process.” This axiom serves
meet the core needs of the sales force and
true with mobility; deploying tablets
can be fully integrated with other tools.
alone will not improve sales execution,
However, there will likely be differences
which Accenture defines as the planning,
in timing as well as role- or function-
design and implementation of selling
specific needs for which companies will
methods, sales and sales supporting
have to build custom tools. In these cases,
processes,enabled with appropriate selling
organizations should factor integration
tools. Determining where mobility fits
efforts into the solution plan.
into the overall sales execution approach
is a critical component for achieving
measurable results.
Organizations can begin their mobility
initiative by establishing a strategy with
a clear definition of the targeted benefits
and a focus on overcoming the challenges
outlined above. Sales leadership should
have a crisp understanding of which mobile
capabilities will be truly new, and how
these capabilities will deliver value both
across the enterprise and to individual sales
representatives.
Page 13
14. Summary
Mobile solutions have the potential to
create dramatic benefits for a sales
organization. Effectively planning and
then executing a strategy that is focused
on the sales representative and customer
experience, through alignment with existing
process, methodologies and technology, is
critical to help drive success.
As smartphones and tablets evolve,
CRM and cloud technologies become
more powerful, and consumer behaviors
continue to drive enterprise innovation, the
opportunity for defining a mobile-enabled
sales strategy has never been greater.
Page 14 |Selling More with Mobile Solutions
15. References Contact Us:
1 Gartner, “iPads: Customer-Facing Selling For more information about the Accenture
Will Drive iPad Use for Sales,” May 20, Sales Mobility offering and how Accenture
2011, by Robert P. Desisto, ID: G00213136. can help your organization improve sales
with mobility, visit Accenture.com or
2 CSO Insights 2012 Sales Performance contact:
Optimization Study
Yusuf Tayob
3 CSO Insights 2011 Sales Performance Partner, Accenture Sales Execution and
Optimization Study Enablement
yusuf.a.tayob@accenture.com
4 CSO Insights 2012 Sales Performance
Optimization Study Ray Pressburger
Accenture Sales Mobility Offering Lead
5 Gartner, “Enterprise Applications for
ramon.w.pressburger@accenture.com
Tablets,” June 13, 2011, by Scott D. Nelson
and David A. Willis, ID: G00214074
6 Morgan Stanley, “Tablet Demand and
Disruption,” February 14, 2011
7 CSO Insights 2012 Sales Performance
Optimization Study
8 Harvard Business Review, HBR Blog
Network, “Why We Use Social Media in
Our Personal Lives—But Not for Work,”
February 16, 2012, by Tamara J. Erickson
Page 15
