How Crucial are Mobile Platforms and Video Content for Sales Enablement?

When it comes to sales enablement, the importance of mobile devices cannot be overestimated. Today mobile and tablet devices outnumber desktop devices by a factor of 13 percent worldwide according to one source (note that iOS and Android applications are also immediately usable on tablets—it is the same technology). We know from our own experience that in emerging markets, mobile devices are used to pay for goods and services, navigation, and for many other things besides calling, texting, and surfing the web.

At Pipeliner, we’ve seen this trend occurring over the years, and even expressed our vision in a book. Following this line, we have invested our programming resources heavily into our mobile platform development. We not only imported capabilities for leads, opportunities, accounts, contacts, and all other entities but developed powerful and playful dashboards. Beyond that, salespeople now have the same detailed processes on their mobile devices that they utilize when selling directly.

That means salespeople can track and maintain concentration on all details of a sale. We not only label opportunities for focus, hot, or stalled for immediate action, but we lay out the path for the buyer’s action and the corresponding seller’s activity, totally integrated into the mobile form. That means that a salesperson has, literally right in the palm of their hand, guided selling. No other CRM offers this kind of functionality.

Another Pipeliner exclusive is our Voyager AI functionality, which provides instant details for analyzing a salesperson’s productivity—winning percentages, efficiency, sales velocity, and more. Voyager encompasses opportunities, accounts, contacts, and leads, as well as a calendar (Google or Outlook) and tasks. With Voyager, a salesperson can view, right on their calendar,  their workload and productivity. From the management side, sales managers can analyze and compare different users over any sales period.

Exponential Power

Mobile technology has certainly come a long way. 2G, which came about in the last decade of the 1990s, really began the digital revolution. It was the first time we had functionality beyond voice, going into data transfer.

The power of 3G inspired Steve Jobs to delve into the development of the smartphone, and Apple created what was really the first of its kind. 3G brought about a rapid increase in wireless technology because now it really went beyond the mere phone call. For the first time, mobile users could surf the web, experience multimedia, and even watch videos. With 3G, though, it took 26 hours—more than a day—to download a 2-hour movie. Nobody, therefore, was using that particular functionality.

4G really meant the whole world was in a person’s pocket, with a plethora of useful applications, many of them free. We had the capabilities of ride service. We lost the need for built-in navigation systems because we could now navigate with our phones. The power of video was never more apparent than with the explosion of apps such as TikTok. That 2-hour movie which took 26 hours to download with 3G could now, with 4G, be downloaded in 6 minutes.

Now we have reached 5G, and will probably remain there for the next 10 years. 5G means the first time you can directly connect from your smartphone to other internet-enabled devices such as appliances, security cameras, vehicles, doors, and many more. And that 2-hour video that took 26 hours to download with 3G, and 6 seconds to download with 4G, now only takes 3.6 seconds.

Video Content

Video content, which has proven itself critical for sales, is now wholly enabled on mobile platforms. At Pipeliner we have seen this importance, we have been continually producing mobile content for a number of years (check out our YouTube channel). These videos not only demonstrate our CRM features but now act as tutorials to instruct users. Video is now a top method for engagement with prospects, and it’s easier than even before to produce thanks to the wide variety of cameras available. Salespeople can send a short video and immediately engage with future customers.

Additionally, we are now providing all of our Salespop online multimedia content—video, ebooks, blogs, podcasts, and more—through our Salespop mobile app. It’s a wonderful way for salespeople, sales management, and others in the industry to stay up-to-date on the latest sales trends and technology.

The Mobile Future is Here

I find it fascinating that my prospects and customers are following the same trend as my 11-year-old son—they are incredibly involved with mobile technology and really use it. It’s truly a mobile world, and we remain right with it, helping build it and making it more powerful.