Being a Leader: How Mobile Apps Can Help You Rally the Troops

Being an SMB owner is no easy task. According to the Small Business Administration, there are more than 28 million SMBs across the country that generate 54 percent of all U.S. sales. Despite the growing number of small businesses, ownership remains a daunting proposition. In addition to long hours, an increasingly crowded marketplace, and the need to effectively integrate new technology solutions, you also bear the weight of being a leader for your team — and the complexity of SMB markets makes it impossible to lead well in a vacuum.

Here's a look at how mobile apps can help you hone key leadership qualities such as confidence, commitment, communication, and clarity, so you can rally your troops and keep them on track:

1. Confidence

For employees to do their best work, they need access to solid data. Customer service reps need to know as much as possible about buyer histories and their previous experiences with your company, while your management team needs access to information about recent trends and potential business strategies.

With so many SMBs so dependent on mobile and remote workers, it's not enough to have a great desktop app. You also need a top-tier mobile solution that ties into existing customer relationship management (CRM) tools. Your best bet is to opt for something such as Salesforce Sales Cloud Professional, which gives you on-demand, on-the-go access to relevant customer and sales data. The result is improved staff confidence in decision-making and your leadership abilities.

2. Collaboration

Good leaders have good ideas. Great leaders inspire employees to collaborate and develop even better ideas. You need a way for staff to collaborate across both mobile devices and desktops anytime, anywhere, along with the ability to check in on project progress or retrieve important files in the event of network disasters.

Here, consider something such as the mobile version of Microsoft Office, which now works with iOS and Android devices. Not only does the mobile-native version include access to well-known productivity solutions such as Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, but they're optimized for mobile screens with big buttons and intuitive functionality. Better yet, they link with Microsoft's OneDrive cloud storage platform for enhanced confidence. You can enable better collaboration for better SMB growth.

3. Clarity

Great leaders are clear about what they want from employees and are always transparent and aboveboard. Embodying this ideal for SMB owners means making sure that key data such as financial information and records is always accurately recorded and stored. Not only does this protect your business in the event of audits or government evaluations, but it serves as a touchstone for employee certainty that sales numbers are accurately reported. This boosts their confidence that total revenues are commensurate with corporate culture and expectations.

Are you looking for better clarity? Start with something simple, such as the QuickBooks mobile app. This popular accounting software helps you track business sales and expenses, view financial statements, pay your employees, and track unpaid invoices. It's a great way to put your money where your mouth is and make sure everyone in your company is on the same page.

4. Communication

Last but never least, great leaders communicate. They communicate their expectations, are clear with praise or necessary discipline, and empower employee communication both within the SMB and outside of the organization. Here, it's about trust. Being a leader means trusting your staff to make good decisions when it comes to tracking down sales opportunities, following up with clients, or handling customer complaints. As a result, it's vital to empower this communication with a professional and agile business phone app.

Consider, for instance, MobileConnect. Owners and employees can easily make and receive business phone calls on mobile devices while under the umbrella of your business phone system. Customers enjoy the confidence of a consistent business presence regardless of call origin or destination, while employees are free to easily send business texts, make video calls, and share image attachments.

Being a leader is no easy task, especially in the challenging environment of a growing SMB. Make your life a little easier with the right mobile applications. Tap software that inspires confidence, enhances collaboration, improves clarity, and empowers communication.

Ready to do more with your SMB business phone system? Contact a Vonage Business consultant.