How important is fast computer response to a sales team? Normally a sales team is about the most closely monitored group of personnel in an organization, simply because sales is the prime influence on the bottom line–for better or worse. The second most important tool to a sales rep–second to the ability to sell the product–is that sales rep’s support. A vital part of that support is, of course, the rep’s computer and its capacity to quickly respond.
While a prospect is sitting there in front of the rep, or while a prospect is waiting on the phone, the rep is going to access a computer for customer info, product pricing, and any other number of items. As any salesperson knows, a prospect’s interest can be a fragile thing. Anything which makes the prospect wait chafes away at that interest, and if chafed enough, the prospect is lost. Slow computer response also means that the sales reps are only able to handle so many prospects per hour, per day, or per week.
The primary barrier to fast computer response is file fragmentation, the condition of files being split into pieces (fragments) to better utilize disk space. As fragmentation builds, computer performance can slow to a crawl. It causes a sales rep to wait–for a database record, for a price to be generated, or for any other computer-generated data. In turn it also causes the prospect to wait which, in turn, erodes interest. This all leads to lower gross sales and a lower profit for the company.
Many companies have solutions for fragmentation in the form of scheduled defragmentation. But what many may not realize that in today’s computer environments, scheduled defragmentation is probably not adequate to their needs. In between scheduled runs, fragmentation continues to compound–especially with today’s enormous file sizes, high disk capacities and larger traffic volumes. Additionally, defragmentation must be scheduled at a time when users won’t be affected by the performance impact of the defragmentation run itself. Today, due to business globalization, many servers must be available 24X7, so anyone on the system at the time the defragmenter runs will be affected. Again that could mean slow service from a sales rep and a lost prospect.
Maximum computer response equals a sales rep able to service the prospect or customer rapidly. The only way to attain that response in terms of file fragmentation is with a defragmentation solution which is fully automatic, does not negatively impact performance, and that requires no scheduling. It would use only idle resources and would defragment whenever possible. Consistent optimum performance–that tool so vital for the sales reps–is assured. And then so are satisfied customers and prospects, increasing gross sales, and that ever-important bottom line.
