For the sales professional, the diverse, vast and hugely critical functional responsibilities associated with the sales function have led to the development of literally thousands of apps that may be useful in various components of the sales process. As we did in our prior posts for CFOs and HR professionals, however, we have honed in on five available apps that are functionally useful and represent great promise, value and efficiency for the busy and often high-pressured sales professional.
WorldCard Mobile: The typical sales professional collects 
a voluminous number of business cards in the course of their work. In an ever increasingly online and mobile world, what is a sales professional to do with the physical card? The rolodex is increasingly impractical and immobile. To meet this need, many apps have emerged that permit sales and business professionals to have their collected business cards integrated with their smart phones. WorldCard Mobile has earned favorable reviews in mainstream and trade industry, and for good reason: It allows the sales professional to immediately integrate business cards into their phones, including importing as phone contact information the name and contact information from the physical business card. A fee-based subscription offers advanced functionality, but the basic importing of business card contact information is available for free. Cost: Free.
Concur: One of the more draining tasks facing most sales 
professionals is returning from a sales call or trip with a handful of expense receipts. It’s easy to forget what receipt was associated with what expense and easier still to misplace them. Enter Concur’s Travel and Expense app, which permits the sales executive an ability to log, organize, submit and process expense reimbursements through its app. The app also eases travel arrangements, offering convenient flight, hotel and other reservation functionality. The app is global in nature, which led Kellogg’s European Travel Manager to praise Concur for its “knowledge and understanding on a country-to-country basis to help us make the tool work for us.” For the sales professional and companies processing expenses, its efficiency and vast options make it a very appealing offering. Cost: $8 per user per month (with a 30-day free trial period).
Skype on Mobile: Known widely for its exceptional and 
arguably unmatched video conferencing services, Skype remains the premiere app for teleconferences, offering sales professionals the ability to communicate by text, phone and video with prospective and existing customers around the world. While it already has a dedicated commitment to serving the business community, its new relationship with Microsoft will likely enable Skype on Mobile to become even more useful, integrated and broadly utilized in day-to-day business life. For global communication by text, voice and video, its quality and cost (free) is unmatched. Cost: Free.
GoToMeeting: While the sales process no longer 
necessarily requires the once nearly mandated in-person meeting with prospective customers, sales still does require various levels of communication and presentations. GoToMeeting offers a free service for up to three users that affords its users the opportunity to communicate by video, record meetings and share presentations online. To be sure, GoToMeeting has many competitors in the vast world of video conferencing, but its free service offers sales professionals a range and quality of service from a company widely deemed one of the industry’s best. For larger groups of meetings, they also offer fee-based services ($39 per month for up to 25 participants and $56 per month for up to 100 participants). Cost: Free.
PayPal on Mobile: While closing a sale is likely still the 
most challenging aspect of the sales process, processing payment for products and services remains a challenge for the traveling sales professional. As with video meeting apps, there are many apps that offer payment processing. Most charge a percentage of the sale in user fees and some (like Square) are restricted to the United States. PayPal remains the global giant in the online payment world. PayPal on Mobile’s latest 5.7 Version ranks among the best payment processing apps available. Opening a PayPal account is relatively easy, requiring only a bank account or credit card link and PayPal’s service is generally exceptional, offering its users email confirmations of invoicing, accounts receivable statuses and payment confirmations. The app is available in nearly every major global language and offers currency conversions for international transactions. Cost: Free app, Fee of 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction. For example, processing and receiving a $100 payment would cost $3.20 ($2.90 plus $0.30).
