Do computers improve sales?
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OR Insight Vol 7 Issue 1
Do computers improve sales? A large insurance company assesses the impact of portable computers on the performance of its sales force
David Johnson and Mike Whitehorn which sum up many of the principles behind the
Many companies are either implementing, or experimenting with, the use of portable computers by their sales forces in selling situations with clients. There is
rules; these are that the salesman should 'know your customer' and should give 'best advice'. A computer can assist in both of these areas.
some evidence to support the view that this will increase the productivity of salespeople, although there is little published evidence. This article de-
Firstly, it can capture, store and retrieve information about the client. Some of this data, once captured, is permanent, for example the date of birth. Other
scribes an experiment carried out by a large insurance company with a small group of its sales representatives in an attempt to quantify the extent of any benefit in terms of more sales or greater premium
data, like earnings, may change quite rapidly.
value.
However, data once captured can be added to and repeatedly used, and hence the salesman is in a better position to know his customer.
One of the main business uses of portable
Secondly, if the computer conducts the needs
analysis, then this is being done by a piece of software that acts like an expert system and will give consistent analysis and product suggestions. The
computers is in the area of salesforce automation and this is expected to be a particularly important role for them in the financial services industry. The majority of life assurance organisations are thinking about, planning or implementing programmes to provide their salesforces with portable computers to run policy quotation and illustration systems, and to store and access customer information. There are indications that many companies are experiencing
salesman, therefore, can demonstrate on what basis
and why particular products were recommended, and that he has given 'best advice'.
More specifically, the direct benefits to the company are usually identified as:
considerable success in this area.
increasing the closing rate, ie the proportion of cases where the client agrees to buy;
However, any investment in computer technology
can be expensive and the benefits claimed by
increasing the average premium per case;
hardware manufacturers and software vendors need to be treated sceptically. Also, although many large insurance salesforces use portable computer tech-
increasing the number of multiple sales;
nology, and claim to be achieving success, exact results tend to be commercially sensitive and pub-
enhancing the professional image of the salesman with the client;
lished results may need to be viewed with caution as being part of the overall promotion of the company's image.
increasing the quality of the business, ie
reducing the proportion of clients who
Benefits of using portable computers
discontinue paying after a short
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