Sales professionals often love the thrill of the open road, canvassing new clients and connecting with existing ones, but being out of the office can hinder productivity and affect sales. Luckily, there are lots of great gadgets out there to help you be more productive. Here are the top five gadgets every sales business should be utilizing.
Highlights of Contents
iGo Portable Projector
For on-the-go business professionals, sales meetings out of the office are the norm. When you don’t’ have access to your regular projectors, desktops and big-screens, the iGo Portable Projector is the perfect solution to a big, bulky projector or monitor. The iGo lets you project videos up to 70” on any flat surface (like a door or wall.) This gadget was developed for the Flip video cameras, but can be connected to laptops, tablets and smart phones. The iGo portable projector has a DLP projector, built-in media player, microSD memory card compatibility, stero audio and mini HDMI inputs.
Quirky Contort USB Hub
Tablets, smart phones, USB drives – sometimes you have more plugs than USB ports, especially if you’re powering your devices on the go. The quirky Contort is the perfect solution to tangled cords and helps protect your thumb drives from accidental damage. The gadget is a four-post USB hub and cord manager with a flexible rubber neck – if you bump the drive, it flexes instead of breaking or bending like traditional USB drives. Tangled cords are a thing of the past with the built-in cord management, featuring four separate anchors to keep your cables in place. The Quirky Contort is small and portable, but can expand to manage more cable. This is a must-have for business professionals who travel or work from home.
iPad
Tablets have become the all-in-one tool for sales professionals. With a full keyboard, internet access (including 3G in some models), note taking and calendar apps, cameras for video conferencing and more, tablets have essentially replaced numerous gadgets of the past. There are tons of models to choose from dozens of companies, but one of the first is still the best: the iPad. The iPad has a big screen – 9.7 inch screen with retina display — thousands of apps (including some from SalesForce, Microsoft and other big names in business communications), and a price that’s more affordable (and almost as powerful) as many netbooks out there. Plus, the iOS operating system is secure and stable, a must for a sales force. The thin size makes the iPad easy to transport.
Logitech Keyboard Case
One complaint about iPad is the keyboard, which can be difficult and unwieldy for quick note taking or email correspondence. Enter the Bluetooth keyboard, like this one from Logitech that doubles as a protective iPad case. Made of aircraft aluminum, the Logitech Keyboard Case connects with your iPad using Bluetooth technology, so there are no extra cords to get in the way. The case has high-density padding to protect and cushion your device if it’s dropped or mishandled, and can hold your iPad in portrait or landscape mode for ease of viewing. The Logitech Keyboard Case is compatible with the iPad 2 and iPad 3.
NeatDesk Desktop Scanner and Digital Filing System
A salesforce does best when they are out among their clients, but keeping track of documents, recipts, files and contracts while they are in a mobile office can be a task. NeatDesk Desktop Scanner can help you save digital copies of your receipts and records, including dates, vendors and totals; create expense reports; track expenses for the IRS and more. The gadget can scan up to 10 receipts, 10 business cards and 10 documents at a time – or even larger single documents. The data can be stored on your personal computer and exported to Excel, Quicken, QuickBooks and TurboTax.
About the author: Steven Boggs is a well-known freelance writer with many years of experience covering the business field. When he’s not busy writing, you can find him reviewing small business budget templates.
The NeatDesk Desktop Scanner and Digital Filing System is my pick of the lot as it has great features built-in. Keeping track of all the files and cards is a major concern when it comes to managing desks at the workplace. The gadget comes in handy.