A smartphone is perhaps your strongest tool for running a business. It’s easy to carry around, and the millions of available apps allow your smartphone to take on a variety of tasks and functions. Most of the apps needed to give your phone the following functions are either free or cheap.
These are the top 10 ways your smartphone can help your business.
Remember Clients
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Remembering clients can be hard, and it only gets harder as your client list grows. You can use your smartphone’s contact list to type in client details. This will help you remember clients, and you can add the information to your growing list of leads and contacts.
Faster Response Time
According to some investors like Andy DeFrancesco, business is all about responding to people on time. If you’re slow to the punch, then your potential client may land in the arms of your competition. A smartphone enables you to quickly receive texts, calls and emails from your clients. You can respond to their requests or questions regardless of your location.
Hold Virtual Meetings
Some clients or coworkers may want to speak with you online via a virtual meeting. Desktops and laptops are commonly used for this, but you can also host a virtual meeting with your smartphone. This makes it easier to be personable with clients and coworkers, and this can help you land a few sales.
Easy File Sharing
Most businesses revolve around files and documents. Threats like viruses, unsecured devices and theft all put private corporate data at risk. In order to prevent the unauthorized access of this information, businesses can hire a virtual CIO to implement a security policy that is monitored and enforced throughout the organization. There are invoice files, documents on customer orders and many other documents. Sharing files with clients and coworkers helps your business function, and you can easily share files with a smartphone. There are many file sharing apps and services, so that makes it easier for you to send and receive files when they are needed. You can also hide your business address if you work from home by using a virtual office service in an area like Bristol so have a look at services like that if you’d like to hide your home address.
Offline Credit Card Payments
Smartphones typically help you with online work, but they can also give you offline assistance. There are mobile payment apps and accessories that allow you to swipe and process credit cards or debit cards right on the spot. This is great for businesses that are on the go. Check sites like www.wecu.com/personal-banking/credit-cards/ and see if their credit cards allow this.
CRM Access
A CRM system allows you to record and monitor customer relations, and this can be very important when making sales or landing clients. A smartphone gives you instant access to your CRM system, so that you will never be without it.
Take New Orders
A smartphone enables you to take orders on the go. You can process these orders from your smartphone, and you can even respond to clients to tell them that the order is going through. This allows you to get payments even if you are away from your desk. We had problems recently with the phone ringing all day that we decided to use a call answering service (it was for a business is Scotland so we used this Glasgow call answering service) and it’s worked brilliantly so definitely use a service like that if you don’t have time to constantly answer the phone.
Faster Fieldwork
You are set to deliver an order to one of your clients. When you get there the client makes another order, but says that he needs it quickly. You would normally have to go back to your business to make the order from there, but you can easily make the order right from your smartphone. You can also tell employees to make orders like this, so that they instantly reach your business.
Monitor Inventory
Most businesses have a limited number of items. You need to order more when the inventory runs out, and you need to update your website to show that the item is out of stock. There are smartphone apps that will monitor your business’s inventory, and they will alert you when the inventory is running low. This makes inventory awareness much easier, and according to popular tech professionals on CIO, this is especially useful for hot items in your inventory.
Social Networking
Social networking is used by many businesses to market to their clients, or to keep up with customers. There are many smartphone apps that allow you to keep up with your social networking account, and you can make posts through the apps. According to Search Engine People, being able to quickly update your account typically increases customer loyalty.
Conclusion
Smartphones are very useful tools for your business. You can find an app for nearly any function, and your smartphone is portable and versatile. If you want to keep your business afloat, then you should consider amassing some useful business apps. You don’t need to spend much, and the investment is definitely worth it. If you want your business to be a household name in the future, then CEOs like Andy Defrancesco may be of great assistance.
About Brandon Leibowitz
