The Technologist Newsletter
Vol 11
Iss 1
2019

T echnology Advice for Accounting Professionals from AccSys Solutions

 
 Benefits
Equipping Your Outside Sales Team for Success

Your sales team is the heart of your business. Every day, these men and women are tasked with pumping out the sales that represent the lifeblood of your business. Properly equipping your outside sales team is essential both to their success and to the success of your organization as a whole.

To properly equip your outside sales team for success, focus on thee important elements: hardware, software, and knowledge.

Hardware
If your outside sales team is as mobile as most, providing them with a mobile computing option is essential. To stay connected with the home office, consider equipping your entire sales force with a notebook computer, tablet, or smartphone.

Mobile devices allow your workforce to secure on-the-spot sales, conduct research on the fly, and submit updates and reports from anywhere in the world. Not only does this send a great message to your customers, but it also gives your sales force the tools they need to be as productive and as flexible as possible.

Software
Even the latest notebook computer or tablet becomes nearly useless without appropriate software. If your organization uses proprietary software in the course of conducting business, make sure your outside sales force has access to it on their mobile devices.

If your business uses Adagio Accounting, there are a variety of applications designed for a mobile sales force, including Mobile Orders for Adagio and the  Webtelligence Salesperson Portal.   

In addition to any company-specific software, consider also including other applications your sales force may require to do their jobs efficiently. A word processor, a spreadsheet, and presentation-related software are all worth considering.

Knowledge and Messaging
For your sales team to be successful, they will need more than hardware and software. Successful sales persons are well trained. They are intimately familiar with your brand and your product, and can deliver a highly persuasive sales message. If your sales staff are not performing up to your expectations, ask yourself "what is missing?"

If the answer is "education", consider an in-house sales training seminar, a mentoring program, or an outside course or program. A highly trained sales staff is one of the surest investments a company can make.

An investment in providing appropriate hardware, software, and knowledge for your outside sales team is the best way to ensure that the heart of your organization has the tools they need to help make your organization the best it can be.

Do you need help equipping your sales force with the software tools they need to succeed? Contact Accsys Solutions. We are happy to help!


tipsThe Techno Tips

How to Create a Screen Shot of Your Workstation or Active Window

Creating a screen shot can be very useful for a number of purposes. If you are creating a training manual, inserting screen shots for each step gives the reader a visual representation and makes it easier to follow the written instructions. Screen shots can also be useful if you are seeing an error message on your computer and need a way to communicate that problem to a service technician in a remote location. We ask our clients to send us screen shots all the time. We can help them so much faster if we can see exactly what they are seeing. A picture is worth a thousand words!
  1. Log on to your computer and open the screens you want to include in the screen shot.
  2. Hold down the "Alt" key and press the "Print Screen" key if you want to capture only the active window in your screen shot. Hold the "Ctrl" key and press "Print Screen" if you want to capture the entire screen, including all of the open windows. 
  3. Open your email, word processing, spreadsheet or presentation software package, and open a new document. Click the "Paste" button on the toolbar, or hold the "Ctrl" key down and press the "V" key to paste the contents of the texts and screens into the document. Save or send the document.
We are also big fans of a product called   Snagit by Techsmith. Snagit lets you capture your entire desktop, a region, a window, or a scrolling screen. It also lets you annotate the screen shots and record yourself working through steps. At around $65, it packs a lot of value into an affordable tool.