4 Little-Known but Effective Mobile Apps to Increase Salesperson Productivity

What’s your relationship with your smartphone like? Are you, like many Americans, practically addicted to it? Or do you check it only a couple of times a day and have a bare minimum of apps installed? Whatever your current usage, your smartphone can turn into a sales productivity booster and sales training tool with the right apps and proper discipline.

It’s safe to say the majority of our readers already have “must-have” apps such as LinkedIn and Twitter installed on their phones. So, we are going to skip those obvious choices and cover a few lesser-known apps which can help B2B salespeople get more done throughout the day and even close deals faster.

HubSpot Mobile Card Scanner

Price: Free

While it is becoming easier to simply ask someone their Instagram or Twitter handle and follow them on their social accounts, the humble business card is still a mainstay in the business world. This is probably due to the continued reliance on email as one of the main drivers of lead generation, a status likely to continue for the near future. The average salesperson probably collects a dozen or more business cards per week, and possibly hundreds at sales training conventions or trade shows.

Manually entering all the data off a card into CRM software is a pain. A better solution is needed, such as HubSpot’s Mobile Card Scanner. It digitizes cards with a simple photo from your device’s camera and parses the data into the final destination of your choice, such as your phone’s contacts or into HubSpot’s CRM – which is then able to sync to SalesForce.

When you have a large stack of business cards, this is the way to go. Scan, and start your drip campaign to them immediately, while they still remember you.

One interesting feature: the app purports to get smarter over time using machine learning, meaning it should become a more accurate field matching with each use. This is a great touch, considering the many different styles and layouts business cards can have these days.

Google Keep Notes

Price: Free

Google’s Keep still surprisingly flies under the radar, especially when compared with its bigger competitor Evernote. However, it’s an excellent alternative – even more so if you are tied into the Google ecosystem with Gmail, Chrome, Drive, Sheets, Docs, etc.

Keep Notes is the mobile app version of Keep, and it allows you to seamlessly access all the text or audio notes, lists, bookmarks, and reminders created on any other device where you are logged into your Google account. And syncing is INSTANT – snap a pic or take a note in Keep on your phone, and it is right there when you open Keep up in a browser.

Salespeople can quickly share their Keeps with others on the team via text, email, or social media and also easily import into all things Google via the Keep icon on the right side of most Google screens.

Dragon Anywhere

Price: $15 per month.

For much more powerful voice dictation features than you can get with Google Keep, Dragon Anywhere does the trick. Based on the industry standard Naturally Speaking, it automatically translates any voice input into texts – with unlimited recording time.

This makes it an excellent way to transcribe sales training lectures, long client meetings, or even brainstorming sessions into searchable texts. Power users will appreciate the ability to edit and format using voice commands as well.

PomoDone

Price: Free, with Pro plan available for $27.49 annually.

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you have no doubt heard me talk about the Pomodoro technique to focus on the task at hand and increase productivity.

The way it works is that you set a timer for 25 minutes, work for that time without allowing any interruptions whatsoever, and then take a mandatory break for five minutes. This is repeated three more times for a total of two hours of very focused work and then a longer break of 15 minutes can be taken.

The amount of work you can get done using this incredibly simple method is remarkable. And while you can use any old-timer, many apps have been developed which incorporate Pomodoro timers.

A standout is PomoDone, available for Mac, Windows, Linux, Web App, Android, iOS, and as a Chrome extension. In addition to providing adjustable timers, it connects to most major task management services, including Trello, todoist, Evernote, asana, Wunderlist, Slack, Google Calendar and more.

From help with sales training to improving time management and note organization, smartphone apps can really boost salesperson productivity – as long as you don’t get sucked into playing Angry Birds or checking social media notifications constantly. Try the apps above, and if you think we missed any please add it to the comments below!