As business owners and managers look to restart their sales processes and stimulate sustainable growth; Jason Ried, Founder of Fuzzy Logic, explores how augmented reality can be a valuable ally.
A renewed focus on sales should always be accompanied by a willingness to innovate and use the new technology tools and platforms on offer.
Increasingly, one of the most powerful – yet overlooked – platforms is augmented reality (AR). Lauded by the likes of Facebook, Apple, and Google, AR can be leveraged to drive sales, boost employee engagement, and win new business.
AR has up to now been regarded solely as a marketing and advertising tool, but it can also have a massive impact on sales and growth. For both SMEs and larger businesses, the strategic use of AR can transform sales by engaging both staff and customers.
Turning sales from dull to dynamic
Unlike traditional sales materials, which are usually text-heavy and dense, AR can take key information and create a highly visual and interactive experience for sales staff. It allows businesses to profile their customers in new and unique ways, creating a far more personalised and dynamic platform from which to target new and existing markets.
Using AR, we can take information and not only present it in an accessible and visual form, but we can also provide valuable analytics to enable quicker and more efficient decision making. The digitised nature of AR takes out the hassle of manually updating charts or writing up long reports – and instead turns sales processes into exciting and engaging tasks for both staff and customers.
Delivering ROI that boosts the bottom line
Indeed, the ability to track key data through sales systems and then present this data to executive leadership is one of the most important elements of AR as a computing platform. For any business that needs to exchange information that might have 'hidden nuggets' of value, or where there is a key insight that needs to be effectively communicated, AR is both a powerful and highly accessible solution right now.
AR solutions can be scaled up or down, depending on budgets, and the cost factor need not be a barrier to entry. Also, the savings achieved through acquiring key data and harnessing analytics far outweigh the initial investment required. Businesses looking to harness AR as a sales tool need to first understand how staff and clients prefer to interact and engage, before finding a solution that caters to those preferences.
Just as Google ushered in a new era of online search and indexing, augmented reality is fast changing the business landscape by extending the power of visualisation and data analytics straight into the boardroom.
