Is Your Sales Staff Technologically Sound?

A technologically advanced sales staff is an efficient one, which is why it's more important than ever to make sure your employees have technology at their disposal.

From smartphones to tablets and everywhere in between, equipping your sales staff with the right gadgets and software could mean the difference between a sale and a missed opportunity.

In order to get the most out of your sales, here are a handful of tech tools to help your staff do their job:

Inventory on the Go

Your employees can't make a sale if the item isn't in stock. Thanks to tablets, smartphones, and other mobile devices, your sales staff is able to have the entire store's inventory in the palm of their hand. Whether it's an in-store sale or your employees are making sales on the go, mobile devices are there to help.

Depending on the type of software you choose, mobile inventories can give your staff accessibility to real-time stock numbers, in-stock items, expected arrivals for out-of-stock items, the number of available items in-stock, and inventory lists from your other stores. This not only eliminates the possibility of staff members making sales on out-of-stock items, it also saves time.

Mobile Money

Although mobile money is customer-end technology, the ability for your store to accept mobile payments is a huge leap in a technological direction. When your store is able to accept mobile payments, it makes the sales process easy and streamlined for everyone involved.

Think about it in terms of spending flexibility. If customers come to your store with certain cash price points in mind, mobile money makes it possible for those customers to adjust their budgets on the spot. This is great for customers who only carry cash or for customers who decide to make purchases on a whim.

Portable Card Readers

When your sales staff has the ability to accept mobile credit card payments, it increases sales. With mobile card readers, your employees are able to carry card reading-equipped cell phones and smartphones to the customer such as those sold by major retailers like Walmart as opposed to the customer coming them. This idea of mobile transactions leads to...

Anywhere Checkouts

It doesn't matter if your sales staff is in-store, out front running a sidewalk sale, or across town at a farmer's market, mobile card readers make card purchases an anywhere possibility. Anywhere checkouts decrease purchase wait times, which is especially useful on busy days when checkout lines are long and customers are likely to reconsider their purchase.

Receipts via Email

Nobody likes figuring out where to keep receipts, which makes email receipts a wise technological improvement for any business. When your sales staff is able to give customers the option of a receipt via email, it saves your store money and speeds up the checkout process.

Likewise, email receipts give your store the opportunity to follow up with the purchase within the email itself. And, if your store has any sales or promotions, those can also be included in the email receipt in the form of printable coupons.

From mobile devices to digital receipts, equipping your staff with the right tech hardware and software will improve sales.