With the monumentous growth of the smart phone market more and more small businesses are making better use of mobile phones to help them run their operations more cost effectively and nimbly.
Because of the increased functionality of business mobile phones I thought that it would be handy if I made a quick list of some of the practical applications for mobile phones that I have heard of small businesses using; this ranges from keeping better contact with customers/potential customers to actually converting sales on the handsets.
(1) I got a parking ticket the other day and couldn’t remember having commited the offence so questioned it – I got a reply a few weeks later with 3 photos of my car parked illegally; enough said – I paid the fine! Although this is a pretty negative example of the idea of using photos to support a business is a great idea. For example your staff in the field who attend to customer complaints can take pictures of broken parts and immediately send it back to the office to verify the correct part number, and check to see if it’s stock or available locally. This can obviously speed up repair times and keep customers constantly updated on the status of their issues. As a customer, one of the most frustrating points of having something go wrong is not knowing what is being done about your complaint – with no/little contact people often may develop the impression that very little is being done for them.
(2) Have photos of your products in the form of a catalogue that is available on a handset so that you can take the catalogue to customers in the field on your business mobile.You can obviously supplement this with a printed catalogue but many customers will appreciate the lack of bulk of one that sits conveniently on their phone.
(3) Track packages – A variety of apps now make it possible to conveniently track packages being delivered. So if your customer wants to know where that shipment is and you’re out of the office, it is now an easy matter to check on it from your business mobile phone. There is an app for the i-phone that allows you to track all deliveries from the top 6 UK based delivery companies including Royal Mail.
(4) Create, view and edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents on handheld devices – Apps such as Docs to Go and Zoho Mobile make this possible. This way, with this functionality you can make notes and update presentations whilst you are out with clients rather than having to remember the changes that you want to make and then applying them when back in the office.
(5) Fill in forms, sign and return documents from your mobile device – No more printing and faxing documents! Use a convenient iPhone app to fill in forms, add a digital signature and send them to the other party, without needing to print them out and fax them back. Zosh is one; RightSignature is another variation.
(6) Put QR Codes on items to give your customers more information — QR codes are 2-dimensional codes that you can create and print on documents such as marketing materials and even business cards. Then using a QR scanner app on a handheld phone, the customer can get more information directly on their handheld device (perhaps taking them directly to a Web page). You might use QR codes to provide more product details or even coupons and discounts. More information on using QR codes. A new app called Barcoo, which is available on iOS, Android and Symbian platforms allows users to scan a barcode whilst in a store and to get product information and reviews direct to their phone. Make sure that your products are set up for this app – it is going to be big!
(7) Track product inventory with Blackberry or other smart phone devices — Using a combination of an inventory software application, and a barcode scanner app or add-on for your mobile device, you can scan and/or check inventory on site or while mobile. NEOReader is a universal scanner app which claims to be able to scan and read all kinds of barcodes. There’s also a barcode scanner for Android by XZing.
(8) Deliver sales brochures and customer information – Email marketing materials to print off right at customer’s place of business or home. Of course – videos are now a great sales tool to send via mobile phones.
(9) Give presentations on an iPad – If you have a sales presentation and you’re with one or two people, there’s no need to lug around a laptop and projector. Just get a stand for your iPad and present your materials off of that. For larger audiences you may need that projector, but the iPad is quite nice for small groups and lends an informal intimacy that aids the sales process. You can alternatively plug your phone into a PC connected to a projector and run the presentation that way.
10) Using drop box to share documents between your various devices and between staff within a company. Drop box is a secure way that you can access your company files from any location on your smart phone, edit them and drop them back in for pick up by someone back at the office – no need for email!
I am sure that I haven’t even scratched the surface here; with more and more functionality being created by the hour, businesses are constantly being more creative and innovative regarding how they use heir mobile phones for business.
How do you use yours?
