6 Tips for driving success while you’re working on the road
Whether you’re visiting prospective customers, out negotiating with suppliers or attending industry events, there’s plenty of reasons to be out of the office and on the road in the office supplies industry. We’re sharing a few top tips on how to get the most out of your time, improve productivity and decrease stress when you’re working on the road in the office supplies industry.
ACCESS YOUR SYSTEM anytime, ANYWHERE
There’s nothing worse than not being able to access everything you need when you’re out of the office. Having access to everything in one place takes out some of the major pain points of work on the road. We’re huge advocates of accessing what you need, anytime, anywhere in one place. After all, with everything office supplies dealers need to juggle day to day, there’s no point wasting time jumping between systems. That’s why our dealer partners enjoy a fully comprehensive system which allows them to access your data in real time, with full visibility of and access to customer orders and queries, CRM tools, order processes, reports, pricing and any other aspects which are vital for them to be able to optimise sales and continue to grow while on the road.
KEEP EVERYONE IN THE LOOP
Whether you’ve been in the industry for decades or you’ve just started out, you’ll know that in office supplies being easily reachable and able to answer any queries generally leads to a more productive team and a happier customer base. With so many collaborative workflow platforms such as Slack, Skype and Google Hangouts, staying in touch while on the road has never been easier. However, to make communication and visibility easy for our dealer partners, we provide them with an industry-specific unique query management technology. All customer enquiries are logged in a system which alerts the relevant team for resolution, and this can be easily accessed in the dealer portal, meaning dealer partners never miss important communications from customers, sales agents or our support teams.
MAKE USE OF CLOUD-BASED STORAGE
We recommend taking advantage of cloud technology so that you can store, access and share your files all in one place. Not only is it easier to store your work this way, it’s safer too, and you needn’t worry about losing memory sticks or files whilst you’re travelling. Useful applications include Google Drive and Dropbox. WeTransfer can be a great way of sending files too, always be sure to download your files though, as they are deleted from the platform after a certain number of hours.
KEEP YOURSELF – AND YOUR DATA – SAFE
If you’re working out of a coffee shop, using public Wi-Fi whilst travelling or surfing any other public hot spot, be sure that you trust the network and have a strong password for your laptop login. If you are using public wi-fi networks, you may want to install a Virtual Private Network or VPN. A VPN encrypts your data while in transit and will prevent anyone who intercepts your data from being able to read it. We recommend switching off file sharing on your laptop too, to keep all your documents safe and business information confidential. If you do use USB sticks or external hard drives, make sure that they’re encrypted and password protected for maximum security. You may also want to protect your hardware by installing a firewall and anti-virus. A firewall is a layer of security which says what traffic can enter your computer, usually keeping hackers and unwanted traffic out. Anti-virus software is useful for preventing viruses and malware from infecting your machine and alerting you to potentially hazardous files. Spam filters are also a good idea, these prevent unwanted emails from even making it to your inbox. This reduces the amount of spam email you receive, making it easier to identify important emails and block emails containing potentially dangerous files. Finally, we’ve found its good practice to use a digital signature for important documents, to assure your co-workers – and customers – that although you’re away, they are the genuine articles. This can speed things up when dealing with new customers too. If you work on the road a lot, it’s worth investing in a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot. This means you have access to a much faster connection anywhere you like, and your security is significantly less likely to be compromised.
OUR COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR CHRIS ARMSTRONG ON STAYING PRODUCTIVE ON THE ROAD:
“As my job involves meeting people, I spend a lot of time on the road. For me, it’s important that I can still access all my CRM tools in one place, efficiently contact prospective customers as well as be on hand to answer any questions from my team. I’ve found that having a comprehensive set of marketing materials, for example catalogues, flyers and brochures as well as a demo system of what we offer is extremely useful when I’m prospecting to potential partners.”
MORE ABOUT OFFICE POWER
When working on the road, Office Power dealer partners really experience the benefits thanks to the dealer portal and dashboard, which allow them to manage their business anytime, anywhere in real-time with proactive CRM tools and a Query Management System which allows full visibility into customer communications. As well as this, our dedicated trading and customer support teams are always on hand to keep on top of customer queries and order logistics, meaning our dealer partners can focus on growing their business. Our dealer partners are never left out in the cold when they’re working on the road, so why not get in touch on chris.armstrong@officepower.net to find out more about how Office Power can help you?
